The Lowell May 2013 by The Lowell

Naturalists flaunt their goods in front of both unsuspecting passersby and tourists seeking photo ops.

Page 12

Backpage

Spotlight

LoweLL HigH ScHooL, Red edition, VoL. 219 no. 4, May 3, 2013, www.thelowell.org

,OWELL 4HE

Birthday suits galore

Field guide to raves

Spirit ’round the flag

ONDERING what secret ability your lab partner is hiding from you? Curious as to whether your lockermates really sing as well as their mothers say they do? Well, you might be able to see them in spotlights at “Light Up the Night,” our school’s annual talent show. Tonight at 7 p.m., the auditorium will turn into our own X Factor as students compete to win a cash prize. Dancing, singing and comedy will be performed at the show. Tickets are $7 during pre-sale and $10 at the door. However, Lowellites will want to snatch a ticket fast — the talent show is usually a sold-out event.

8IBU T What’s

Inside

News

Pages

1-11

Eucalyptus campus celebrates 50th year anniversary, class of 2006 journ alumnus recognizes his old chair in journ room Dance concert salutes musical and pays tribute to deceased Dance Company alum

Sports

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13-16

Softball team wants to improve offensive strategy, members’ pitching is a strength

Columns

Page

Senior looks back at high school; Lowell is a bittersweet amusement park visit with BFFs

Opinion

Pages

21-22

Cross country coach needs to downsize team due to upcoming P.E. exemptions

Page 24

Seniors win scholarships for science ambition By Luke Haubenstock

*O UIF OFXT In the news

Today

Entranced by light shows and fascinated by colorful jewelry? That’s how some teens today roll.

KARA SCHERER

Students look on as senior Kieran Hughes is in “mid-worm” during the senior rally dance. An impromptu dance-off between the four grades erupted before the spring rally ended on April 26.

N APRIL, EIGHT SENIORS were selected to receive $1,000 each under the school’s science program’s scholarships. The recipients were recognized for demonstrating great potential for studying science. Seniors Nicholas Werby, Caitlin Lienkaemper, Kitty Kwan, Mollee Chu, Kegan Kawamura, Sam Lee, Alexander Chuang and Anderson Huang were chosen as the recipients of the Julia Ye Science Scholarships. The Julia Ye Science Scholarships are awarded and funded by PTSA members Christina and Herbert Lee, in the name of class of 2006 alumna Julia Ye. Ye is a co-founder of the Lowell Science Research Program. “They [Christina and Herbert Lee] wanted to fund a science scholarship for Lowell, and they and Mr. Shapiro thought it would be appropriate to name it after me, given my extensive efforts in creating science research opportunities for Lowell students,” Ye stated in an email on April 24. Over 20 seniors applied for the scholarship. The See SCHOLARSHIPS on Page 6

Local accident wrecks student’s car By Eric Ye

FTER SCHOOL, a student’s parked car was involved in a hit-and-run incident, although the driver ended up taking responsibility. At 6 p.m. on March 22, senior Irene Ouyang headed out to her car, a 2011 Lexus IS 250 F Sport she had parked before school at the intersection of Eucalyptus Drive and Inverness Drive. “I was walking on the street with four of my friends to go out to eat for a birthday dinner,” she said. “I heard a really loud screech — a crash, basically. I saw a gray Toyota crash into the back of my car.” The impact from the Toyota caused Ouyang’s Lexus to rotate 90 degrees into the front lawn of a house, stopping only one foot away from the building itself. After hitting the Lexus, the driver reversed,

PHOTO COURTESY OF IRENE OUYANG

Senior Irene Ouyang’s car, parked on Eucalyptus Drive, was involved in an accident on March 22. Ouyang cannot open the trunk anymore.

turned at the corner of Inverness Drive and drove away, according to Ouyang, who chased the car. “I was just really shocked,” Ouyang said. “I panicked — I ran for a whole block. After I couldn’t catch

up, I fell to the ground and started crying. I’m pretty sure she saw me running after her, and she still didn’t stop.” Ouyang later learned from a bystander that the driver was an African-American female, and an

infant had been sighted in the rear seat of the Toyota. One of the residents who witnessed the incident drove out of his driveway to help Ouyang chase after the driver, according to Ouyang. Seeing that she was being followed, the Toyota driver pulled aside at Ocean Avenue and walked back to the site of the crash incident with her unharmed baby in her arms. According to Ouyang, the police report stated that the driver was 22 years old, and the Toyota belonged to the aunt of the driver. “She was speeding down Eucalyptus, and I guess she looked back and swerved into my car,” Ouyang said. “Instead of braking, she pressed the pedal — that’s why it caused her car to hit so hard, along with her initial speeding. You’re supposed to be driving at 25 miles per hour in the school zone, See ACCIDENT on Page 6

Tech club builds Warped perceptions athletic robot, visits St. Louis for champs

By Antonio Carmona

HE SCHOOL’S ROBOTICS team, CardinalBotics, has made it into the FIRST Robotics Competition 2013 Championship after their robot was able to shoot accurately and succeed at the Silicon Valley Regional competition. CardinalBotics’ robot, nicknamed “Long Shot,” competed at the 2013 SVR. Long Shot is 5 feet tall, 30 inches by 26 inches wide, and is built to shoot frisbees using a mechanism made with a spinning wheel. The robot can shoot the disks at around a 50-foot distance at a height of around ten feet. The response of their competitors can be summed up by their reaction at SVR. “We became recognized by many older teams, who See ROBOTICS on Page 6

HUIMIN ZHANG

Female drama students participate in a poignant short about body image during Ohlone Night on April 28. See “Talented thespians bare their souls” on Page 4.

2 NEWS

May 3, 2013

NEWSBRIEFS Class of 2017 smaller than usual With the ritual of the distribution of high school acceptance letters and the ensuing registrations over for this year, the school’s class of 2017 may end up on the small side. Lowell offered admission to the usual number of 875 students — high because the school plans for attrition. Around 700 students accepted the offer to register, similar to the class of 2016. “If all the students come, the number is not low,” assistant principal of pupil services Michael Yi said. “But public schools are different from private schools. We can’t make you pay $500 to register and hold a seat, so even registered students may not end up attending Lowell.” The current freshman class of 2016 numbers 641 students, with between 850 and 900 students having received acceptance letters in March 2012. Students do not always follow-up with enrolling, due to various reasons. They may be attracted to another San Francisco Unified School District high school, move into a different district, or decide to attend a private school. “If they are offered a $20,000 scholarship, the parents may decide to send them to a private school,” Yi said. Every year, students and families ultimately decide which high school to attend, usually by the end of their eighth grade graduation, but sometimes, seemingly, not until school starts. This year should be no different. “We, meaning both the Lowell principals and SFUSD administration, don’t have control over their choices,” Yi said. “We can only show how good Lowell is and how good SFUSD is. The rest is up to the students and their families.” The size of the smallest freshman class in recent years was around 620 students. If the class of 2017 sets a new record, we will find out next fall. “We will not know the number of students in the class of 2017 until after the ten-day count in the 2013-2014 school year,” Yi said. “The district pays the school for every single student present during that count. Even if students transfer in and out during the year, the funding for the school does not change after the ten-day count.” — Whitney C. Lim

The catwalk bustled as students examined a student-run presentation on the dangers of smoking. The display included two inflatable lungs and a tar jar that represents the amount of tar you inhale if you smoke half a pack of cigarettes every day for a year. There was also a raffle where students had the opportunity to win Jamba Juice gift cards after they completed a survey about their experience at the event. The school’s Youth Outreach Workers put on “Seeing through the Smoke” on April 25, where they presented information on the smoking of both tobacco and marijuana. “This is a very prevalent problem at Lowell that needs to be addressed,” junior Olivia Zacks said. “As YOWs we need to step up and educate students. By exposing people to things they wouldn’t see otherwise, like the pig lungs and the tar jar, we can make a lasting effect on their outlook on smoking.” YOWs have been planning “Seeing through the Smoke” for some time. “We’ve been putting this together for a couple months, it’s been in the back of our minds for a while,” senior Ariel Perez said. “At our meetings we put forward new ideas and this has been one everyone agreed would be good.” The students who prepared the booths believe the display was a resounding success. “I saw very shocked faces and a lot of sincere reactions,” Zacks said. “It shows what we do can have a real effect on students.” Students who did the activities were also impressed. “I definitely didn’t know smoking was so toxic,” junior Aaron Moye said. “I knew it was bad for you but I didn’t realize how bad it really is.” The event was such a success that there is talk of making it an annual occurrence. “I’m hoping they don’t do the exact same thing, because students would be familiar with it, but something along the same lines because I think it is very helpful for both the YOWs and the community,” Perez said. — Ian James

Chamber choir competes in annual Heritage Festival By Tyler Perkins

OWELL’S CHAMBER choir received the highest rating for the second time in three years at an annual regional competition. The Lowell chamber choir and about 20 other groups performed three songs at Fullerton College in Anaheim on April 6. Anaheim is the West Coast site for the Heritage Festival, which takes place at different locations around the country. The chamber choir is a small group ensemble composed of 21 students from the Advanced Choir class, according to choir teacher Jason Chan. At the beginning of the year, the students are given the same song to prepare for the audition and the best vocalists are selected for the Chamber Choir. Once a group is selected, they meet after school on Fridays. In the week before a performance or competition they meet daily. “The main thing I look for when choosing the chamber choir is vocal quality,” Chan said. “It is important that it consist of all strong singers because it is a smaller group.” The Heritage Festival is a competition

for high school choir groups and has a standardized rating system. “Groups can receive gold, silver or bronze ratings,” Chan said. “They are judged on eight categories: tone, intonation, blend, balance, diction, rhythm, music choice and general effect. The judges are always looking for diversity in song selection, so we try to sing songs of different genres and styles.” Lowell’s chamber choir was not lacking diversity, singing songs in three different languages. “We sang a French song called ‘Je ne l’ose dire,’ a Spanish song called ‘Esto Les Digo’ and an English spiritual song called ‘Hush! Somebody’s Callin’ My Name,’” Chan said. “They were all good, but our best was probably ‘Esto Les Digo.’ It had the best musicality our performance went well. It took us three months to prepare our songs for the competition.” Learning songs in different languages can be challenging. “It’s sometimes difficult at first, but we have translators to help us,” senior Marissa Choy said. “When learning a song in a different language it is important to focus on how

it sounds instead of what it means.” Two days before the festival, the ensemble — about two-thirds of the chamber choir — rode to Anaheim on a charter bus and went to Disneyland the day before. “It was a fun experience,” Choy said. “It was impossible to get any sleep on the bus because everyone was talking, but it was a great bonding experience.” After the competition they rode back to San Francisco with a plaque, which will be displayed in the choir room, according to Chan. The Advanced Choir performed at the Chamber Festival as well and received a silver rating. They sang “Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel?” “Praise to the Lord,” and “Caturog Na Nonoy,” a lullaby from the Philippines. The chamber choir did not enter the Heritage Festival last year. “We won gold in 2011, but decided to enter the festival at Carnegie Hall in New York instead last year,” Chan said. “This year we entered the Heritage Festival for the second time and received a gold ranking again. We are still deciding what competition we are going to enter next year.”

Student architects design ocean pavilions for local competition By Michelle Wong

HEN WE’RE YOUNG, building blocks and Legos are the closest many of us get to designing buildings. Advanced Architecture students however, are graduating from the colorful plastic blocks to designing foamcore models of buildings for the 44th Annual High School Design Competition sponsored by the Architectural Foundation of San Francisco. Entries this year revolve around the America’s Cup, one of the oldest and most renowned sailing races, but rather than focusing on the actual race, this year’s theme was “Healthy Oceans.” The theme will “serve the public’s desire to learn about the need for healthy oceans,” according to the Architectural Foundation of San Francisco. “We were to build temporary structures to leave as little carbon footprint as possible while incorporating the protection of the ocean environment,” Advanced Architecture student sophomore Jun Min Zhong said. The awards ceremony was held on April 28 with multiple Lowell winning recognition. The grand prize winner for Best Design for Overall Superiority was Advanced Architecture student sophomore Eric Cheung, whose submission included especially eco-friendly designs, incorporating the placement of the building on the land to keep carbon footprints as minimal as possible. “I wanted the building to appear as a part of the natural environment,” Cheung said. “Using simple base structures not only assured that the building was easy to construct and take down, but I was also able to use intricate tenting that gave the design a more dynamic look. The walls and tenting will be made of ETFE plastic, a light, structural resin that is 1/100 the weight of glass and can withstand up to 400x its own weight.It is 100% recyclable and requires little energy to transport and install, making it eco friendly.” Freshman Amy Gaon Oh was also rewarded with an honorable mention for her design. “The outdoor cafe of my building was located on a raised platform to prevent litter and debris from drifting directly into the water and harming the ocean,” Oh said. “When I was designing my pavilion I didn’t expect

to get an award for it, so I was really excited to go up at the awards ceremony.” Zhong also had a specific vision for his audience in his design. “I restricted a view in my building, which had lots of large windows for an ample amount of natural sunlight to come in, to small consecutive views of the ocean so as the audience approached the entrance of the building, they would be exposed to the expanding horizon of the ocean, being able to connect with the ocean more,” he said. In addition to submitting accurate floor plans, computer perspective designs, a written description and a video presentation, students are required to build a 3-D model. “It’s my favorite part about architecture because I like seeing it all come together as one tangible piece that I created on my own,” Fong said. Pollak hopes that the students’ involvement in the competition challenges them to think critically and respond to a design problem in a creative way which reflects an understanding of the site conditions and the building’s client needs. “In education we often place too much value on students providing correct answers to questions intended to illicit a narrow range of responses,” Pollak said. “In working on their architectural designs, students are learning a skill set in critical thinking and problem solving which can be applied to many different disciplines.” The position of chair and author of the competition has been passed down to a Class of 2005 alumnus Ryan Lee, who currently works for Woods-Bagot Architectural Firm. “The high school design competition was always the main spring project and being able to participate in it was something that I very much enjoyed,” Lee said in an email. Lee himself was inspired by Lowell graduates. “When I was a high school student, former Lowell kids would come in and do exactly the same thing as I’m doing with the students now in terms of providing feedback,” Lee said. “Going back to help out provides a chance to foster a different type of creative learning and problem solving through architecture that is potentially applicable in a variety of other fields.”

arts

YOWs host anti-smoking campaign

Lowell High School

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PHOTO COURTESY OF AMY OH

(Above) Advanced Architecture students stand before the judges of the 44th Annual High School Design Competition with styrofoam models of their ocean pavilion designs.

The Lowell

May 3, 2013

CAMPUS

Students express tragedy through art

By Whitney Lim

“We paid for the supplies with a YouthANY HAVE HEARD of infa- Speaks grant,” Alpert said. “We bought the mous genocides — the Holo- clay from Ceramics & Crafts and will take caust, perhaps the Cambodian the bones there to fire and stain.” YouthSpeaks is an organization that or Rwandan genocides. But some do not know these deliberate political killings encourages youth to share their voice inof a national, ethnical, racial or religious dividually or in groups like SWC. Alpert group still occur today. One club is trying suggested the event to SWC in a meeting at the beginning of the year. “My aunt to change that. Spoken Word Club hosted a One Mil- works at a school that participated in One lion Bones event on April 26 in the flag- Million Bones and, while she was visiting pole area during blocks four, five last year, she told me about it,” he said. SWC invited anyone to participate in and six, partaking in a worldwide effort to raise awareness about One Million Bones, including students genocide, which Polish lawyer of with a free block and teachers and their Jewish descent Raphael Lemkin classes. President of SWC junior James coined in 1944 by combining Iwamasa organized the event by sending the Greek root for race with the out emails to Lowell staff, reserving space and requesting Latin root tables, materials for killing. “This grant monevent is a tribute to I think events like this and ey. He hopes genocide victims, representing our are important because people can learn something from acknowledgement they stop us from for- the event he ortoward the hosa n i z e d . “O f tilities they have getting our past and gcourse, it relates been subjected to,” sophomore Rowan help us prevent history to history and world genocide,” Cassius said. from repeating itself.” Iwamasa said. Students, teach“Although not ers and staff made SOLI ALPERT, all teachers covclay b ones and sophomore er it, it happens wrote poems and even today. One notes of remembrance on them. “I think events like this Million Bones also relates to English and are important because they stop us from art, where students express their opinions forgetting our past and help us to prevent and ideas.” SWC is still speculating what to do history from repeating itself,” sophomore with the bones after they are finished. Soli Alpert said. The bones are symbolic of genocide “They will hopefully be displayed someand death. On the One Million Bones where on campus,” Alpert said. “They website, it states, “Each bone represents may also join bones from other projects a call to action, a story, a voice.” Alpert around the country in Washington, DC, added, “It’s unnatural to see human bones or be displayed in some other building because the only time we see them is un- in the city.”One Million Bones is the first der extreme conditions. I think this makes event SWC hosted this year besides Open bones a more potent symbol and gets a big Mic every few months. “SWC is devoted to providing a safe space for expressing reaction out of people.” People used pencils to write on the yourself through writing, talking, rapping, bones and spoons to craft them out of clay. or whatever other form,” Iwamasa said.

clubs

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ALL PHOTOS BY KARA SCHERER

(Top) Senior Roland Greedy models a skull out of clay to raise awareness for worldwide genocide at the Spoken Word event One Million Bones. The event is a part of a worldwide movement targeting the issue. (Bottom) From left: Senior Laureen Zouai, junior Alex Duron, junior Aileen San and senior Fatima Gonzalez craft bones from clay near the flagpole.

Out with the old, in with the new: Lowell updates course offerings for next year By Joseph Kim

CTE class offered at the school. Video production is a new course that evolved from an The Principles of Computer Science class will be taught by idea tested in the spring of 2011 in the Drama 2 class during EVERAL DIFFERENT CLASSES have been added to the course selection list, expanding new opportunities for the an experienced professor in the software industry, following the the second quarter of the semester. “We managed to create a same course used at UC-Berkeley. “Students will learn the com- whole film, fully written, produced and directed,” drama teacher 2013-2014 school year. The classes — Principles of Computer Science, Robotics puter language called ‘Snap’, in addition to the social impact of Teresa Bookwalter said. “We knew then that this would be Engineering, Computer & Robotics Technology, Video Produc- computers on society,” computer programming teacher Arthur something possible.” Principal Andrew Ishibashi and BookSimon said. CollegeBoard has plans walter decided that the time was ripe to create the class for this tion, Dance Production and Science to make this an Advanced Placement coming fall semester. Lab — are all being made into courses with its first AP test in 2017. Students taking the course will have the opportunity to students can take for credit. AdditionThey are trying to move course Science Lab, originally called “Sci- produce videos and short films. “We will create films out of ally, a class currently offered as a onesemester-long class, Computer Repair, away from semester- ence Research” as a club, has trans- short stories that should be around three to five minutes long,” formed into a course students choose Bookwalter said. She has plans to enter these studentwill be replaced by a two year Robotlong classes so that stu- alongside their regular courses. Be- made films into the Ohlone College High School ics course. However, the repair class students Theater Festival. was not completely eliminated — the dents are able to take cause did not know Dance Production, an adComputer Repair curriculum will be vanced technique and choreincorporated into the new Computer courses that are more that Science We managed to cre- ography class, is going to take Research had and Robotics Technology, a course career focused.” been renamed, designed for students who want to beate a whole film, fully the place of Dance Company, students did an afterschool audition-based come involved in the school’s Robotics BRYAN COOLEY, written, produced and group. “This is essentially the not sign up team. The class will also be followed up physics teacher for the class, company class that will with the Robotics Engineering course, directed. We knew then dance Science Lab. take sophisticated technique which is being changed into an official course after two years as a club. “They are trying to move away Assistant principal of pupil services that this class would be and choreography,” dance teacher Wendy Jones said. from semester-long classes so that students are able to take Michael Yi hopes to change this by possible.” Students enrolled in this courses that are more career focused,” physics teacher Bryan sending out an announcement to inform students on the availability of class will learn the art of makCooley said. TERESA BOOKWALTER, ing a production, in addition to various The robotics curriculum will cover a plethora of topics. “In the class. drama teacher The class will be taught by proother skills. “Just like all of the other Computer and Robotics Technology, students would learn dance classes, the goal of this class about the basics, such as safety and environmental issues, basic fessors from UC-San Francisco and electronics and personal computers and components,” Cooley funded by the Lowell Alumni Association. “The class focuses is to develop a sense of personal expression and kinesthetic said. “Then in Robotics Engineering, students will choose to on researching science, rather than just teaching students facts,” awareness through dance vocabulary and technical skill,” Jones specialize in one aspect, such as programming, computer aid Shapiro said. “By taking this class, students can learn skills such said. “The Dance Production class takes these qualities to a as using special lab equipment and reading and presenting a professional performance level.” The class will teach students to design and manufacturing.” The two-year robotics course is a Career and Technical science paper.” This year, eleven students entered the Bay Area create clear and cohesive works that they will perform outside Education course, or a college and career preparation class. Science Fair, and nine students won a total of eleven awards. of school. These students will also be in charge of organizing Having originally funded the Computer Repair class, CTE is Additionally, the club had three of its members recognized the concerts. Teachers have high hopes for these new classes, and also, also going to fund the Computer and Robotics Technology nationally by the Siemens Foundation and the Intel Science high expectations for the students. class. With this funding, the two-year course will be the only Talent Search.

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curriculum

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4 NEWS

May 3, 2013

Lowell High School

Talented thespians bare their souls ALL PHOTOS BY CATE STERN

By Amber Ly

sion of the spring musical, Crazy for You. A maxi ECAUSE OF A HIGHER level of par- musical is a shortened version of a musical. “We ticipation, students stood on a different chopped down Crazy for You to about 10 minstage for the drama department’s annual utes by cutting out stuff, like dances and songs, but we still kept the integrity of it,” junior Josh Ohlone Night. This year’s Ohlone was held at 6 p.m. on April Muller said. Drama students jokingly refer to Crazy for 28 in the school’s larger theater, the Carol Channing, rather than the Steve Silver where it had been You as “the musical that never ends,” according to Muller. performed in past years. “People call it that because we keep reviving Drama teacher Teresa Bookwalter and the Advanced Drama students came together and chose it and performing it over and over,” Muller said. The speed-dating version to relocate the performance of the musical took second because the Steve Silver did place in Maxi-Musicals at not have adequate space to Ohlone Festival. accommodate everyone the In cont rast to t he year before. Ohlone Festival, Ohlone “2012 Ohlone Night was Night is much less nervevery crowded,” Bookwalter wracking for the drama said. “We wanted to ensure students. “It brings the that every audience memstress down a little since it’s ber got a seat in 2013.” students watching instead 77 students went to the of judges,” Muller said. Ohlone College Theater SRINAND PARUTHIYIL, The tradition of Ohlone Festival in Fremont on sophomore Night goes back about 10 March 22 and 23, accordyears. Because the actual ing to junior Selena Saad. “Since we had more people involved compared festival is a competition, the participants do not to the past we need a bigger stage to fit everyone,” get to showcase the performances to a general audience. she said. According to Bookwalter, Ohlone Night was Despite having to adapt to performing on a much larger stage, the students were confident created for Ohlone contestants to perform their that their acts would not be majorly affected. “The acts locally. “Ohlone Night lets you to show an aularger theater isn’t a huge change,” Saad said. “We dience what you spent four long months rehearshad to change some blocking and project louder. ing for,” sophomore Srinand Paruthiyil said. “I do Ohlone because it allows me to be around people It just took some getting used to.” All entries from the festival were performed who make my time at Lowell special.” A VERSION OF THIS STORY FIRST APPEARED ON WWW.THELOWELL.ORG at Ohlone Night, including a maxi-musical ver-

Ohlone because “ Iitdoallows me to be around people who make my time at Lowell special.”

The drama department’s Ohlone Night on April 28 showcased a year’s worth of hard work. (TOP) In The Shining Lives, seniors Heather Weiss Francis portray working women in Myers, as Laertes, gets ready to slash senior Cecily Montgomery, who played Hamlet, in 15 Minute Hamlet. 15 Minute Hamlet Beem served as a narrator — and scribe.

May 3, 2013

The Lowell

NEWS

Science teacher learns teach- Summer school ing techniques at conference will offer only basic courses A By Patricia Nguy

SCIENCE TEACHER recently attended a national conference to share and improve her teaching methods. Science teacher Erin Bird attended the National Science Teacher Association National Conference in San Antonio, Texas from April 11-14. She was the only participant from the school and brought back ideas from 16 of the 1,500 workshops, all addressing the new national framework for science education. “The purpose was an opportunity for science teachers to get together to learn about the new national framework,” she said. The framework encourages investigation and is inquiry-based, a holistic and realistic way of learning science. “Each state gets to decide if they want to adopt the framework or not,” Bird said. “California decided to, so they will create new science standards based on the framework.” In teaching workshops, presenters introduced inquiry to encourage teachers to stretch the knowledge of students. “With inquiry, the lessons are often set up in a way where there’s not a set answer,” Bird said. “This is a reflection of how science is really done — what skills are needed to solve this experiment.” Bird met Brown University professor Ken Miller, who is also the author of a freshman biology textbook. “I used his textbook when I was in high school and we talked about how it’s going electronic and he showed me it on his iPad,” she said. “The diagrams and pictures were interactive. You could click on a water molecule and be able to rotate it.”

Along with university professors and The association paid for her ticket and scientific education companies, media attendance and, of course, she received personalities were present like Bill Nye permission from the administration to the Science Guy, although Bird did not pursue professional networking. hear his speech. “He has a show, and it’s The fellowship is an online comkind of Discovery Channel meets Com- munity of teachers in their second or edy Central with a little bit of Disney third year of teaching. “We share ideas thrown in as well,” she said. and curriculums,” Bird said. “It’s a proThere was also a football field size ex- fessional development opportunity to hibition hall with 300 different booths, reflect and improve on teaching.” including Howard Hughes MediThe conference takes place in a cal Institute, different city the Wisconsin every year. In Fast Plants Proof 2011, With inquiry, the les- March gram, and Carthe NSTA held olina, a comsons are often set up in their conferpany that proence in San a way where there’s not Francisco. “The vides living and dead organisms confera set answer. This is a NSTA for studying or ence ne e de d performing reflection of how sci- student volundissections in teers, and Lowence is really done.” classrooms. ellites stepped “There were a u p,” s c i e n c e ERIN BIRD, lot of giveaways teacher Dacoscience teacher and opportutah Swett said. nities to make “Approximately purchases,” Bird said. “Booths were not 30 students volunteered when NSTA only selling products but also ideas. was in SF. Also, teachers from Colorado There were also new textbooks but I gave a workshop on flipping a classdon’t know when our school will be room.” A flipped classroom is where the getting any because that is decided at students learn concepts at home, and the the district level.” teacher applies those concepts during A topic of discussion was the science class time in an activity or lab. teacher’s mission to make science acNext year, the conference will take cessible to all students. “I think we do a place in Boston on April 3-6, 2014. great job at Lowell,” Bird said. “There are “I’m not sure which teachers will go, a lot of science classes for the students’ because we can only really afford to go interests, like biology and physics.” if it’s in San Francisco,” Swett said. “The The main reason Bird was able to go best thing is to gather information from on the trip was because she was part of a all different types of sources; different NSTA fellowship aimed at new teachers. strategies work for different subjects.”

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By Antonio Carmona

HIS SUMMER, earthquake-related safety renovations at the school will prevent any summer classes or programs from taking place on campus. Lowell’s campus will be closed from June 4 through Aug. 15 due to the western section of the school undergoing renovations (See “Renovations deter summer school,” The Lowell, April 2013). According to assistant principal of administration Margaret Peterson, work in the gymnasium and locker rooms is planned to be finished by July 16 to allow the rooms to be used by school sports before the summer break is over. For students who require summer school, applications will be available in the counseling office. In order to enroll, a student must have failed a graduation requirement with an F grade. If a student would like to repeat a class that resulted in a D, they will be put on a waitlist. Lowell students who enroll will be assigned to Balboa High School. Summer school at Balboa will take place from June 12 to July 17, from 8 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. Only standard courses given during the school year such as mathematics, science and English will be offered. The following classes will be offered at Balboa: 9th Grade English, 10th Grade English, American Literature, Algebra, Advanced Algebra, Spanish, Geometry, Biology, Chemistry, Modern World and U.S. History. Students may have been planning to take one of the required electives that the PTSA funded at Lowell the past two years. But as the school site is unavailable, so are the school-sponsored classes. Although Health as well as College and Career will not be offered over the summer, they will be offered in the fall semester during the regular school year. For those looking to earn San Francisco Unified School District credits, summer classes are also offered through San Francisco City College’s College for Teens program (www. ccsf.edu). Registration for classes opened on April 3 and is on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Teacher takes break to renew love of art By Campbell Gee

HUIMIN ZHANG

World music concert

(TOP) Senior Zachary Wong plays the tambourine and sings the opening chant for a New Zealand tribal song, “Kua Rongo Mai Koe,” which was performed by the Advanced Choir. (LEFT) Director Jason Chan conducts the Beginning Choir during their Beatlesthemed performance in the auditorium on April 25. LUCIANO CHAN

FTER 11 YEARS of teaching budding artists the wonders of painting, drawing and sculpting at the school, a visual and performing arts department teacher is taking a yearlong break from teaching to focus on her personal creative endeavors. During her sabbaticcal, Kristen Janssen plans to vacation to faraway art meccas like the Venice Biennale, a major contemporary art exhibition in Italy, and the Miami Art Basal, which hosts modern art shows in Florida, in order to gain a broader perspective as an artist. “I’m going to visit to see the work, experience the lectures and take it all in,” Janssen said. “If I get a chance, I’ll take a little beach time too.” In addition to exploring cultural destinations, Janssen also wants to use her year off to spend more quality time with her family. “I can’t be away from home too long because I have an 11-year-old daughter who I might homeschool for part of the time,” she said. “If my husband can join in, we’ll travel more, too.” Aside from traveling and viewing the art of others, Janssen also aims to work on her own creations. “I plan to take much overdue concentrated time in my garage studio,” she said. “It is mostly about having designated ‘work’ time, a more focused energy and a substantial number of hours stitched together.” Though her projects will include a continuation of her past work, Janssen is also open to learning new art techniques. “I am going to revisit my series on scale and measuring time and my conceptual sculptural work,” she said. “Plus, I am going to dig back into large

format photography, but I have to be very open to change and new ideas.” Janssen attributed her decision to take a sabbatical this coming year to multiple factors, including the adequate timing and the desire to recharge her energy when it comes to teaching. “I feel I need a mid-career retrospective of my teaching and art practice,” she said. “And it was also good financial timing for my family. It just seemed right.” No decision has been made about who will fill Janssen’s shoes while she is away, but the San Francisco Unified School District plans to supply Lowell with potential candidates which administrators and the Visual Performing Arts department, including Janssen, will narrow down until they find a suitable replacement. When it comes to leaving, Janssen is confident her students will thrive under a new instructor. “There is an amazing group of juniors I have taught for the past three years who are ready to experience a new teacher and fresh approaches to their own art practice,” she said. “Lowellites are great at making adjustments to the public school environment, so I’m sure they will take full advantage of having someone new to express their talents with.” To make sure her pupils will continue to strive to become stronger and greater artists, Janssen plans to keep them on their toes. She plans to visit at the end of the 2013 fall semester to critique her senior AP Studio Art students’ portfolios in preparation for art university applications. “We have had such great success in college art acceptances these past few years,” Janssen said. “I want to make sure these future seniors have the same successes.”

6 NEWS

Seniors find success at state math competition By Eric Ye

WO SENIORS OF THE Mathletes club received high marks to the nth degree in the state round of a math competition. On April 20, seniors Sam Lee and Mark Young placed second and fourteenth, respectively, out of 48 individuals in this year’s California championship of the mathleague. org competition, which runs high school math meets of local and statewide level in several states. The event was held at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill. Six members of Mathletes, Kenneth Chan, Patricia Chin, Sam Lee, Benson Li (who could not attend), Cailan Li and Mark Young, had qualified to enter the state championships as a team based on their performance in one of the preliminary meets of the competition in October last year. Lee and Young were invited to compete in the next level, the multi-state championship in Kansas City on May 17. “Compared to these few years, we are slowly getting better,” Young said. The competition consisted of two individual rounds and three team rounds, covering algebra, number theory, geometry, counting and probability. “The problems varied greatly in difficulty and range of topics compared to problems in usual classroom tests,” Lee said. “Classroom problems usually follow one step or form, but there are multiple ways to approach a competition problem, and often you have to be creative and think outside of the box to come up with the solution.” Mathletes work on problem sets every Tuesday to prepare for various competitions, including the annual Stanford Math Tournament and the Berkeley Math Tournament. “Sometimes we do past problems from the contest and work through them,” Lee said. “We often focus on a few topics during a meeting and discuss techniques and their applications.” It is the first time Mathletes has entered the state championship, according to Lee. “I’m a bit excited and a bit surprised, because Lowell’s not usually strong in local math contests,” he said. “The effect of the training is starting to show, and it encourages others to go beyond the standard curriculum to explore mathematics.”

Lowell High School

May 3, 2013

Tech team attends champs From ROBOTICS on Page 1 came over to our team in the pits and strived to help us while inquiring about how a second-year team could build a robot that looks like a second-year team built it, but that could perform as if a tenyear team built it,” vice president of organization senior Reed Haubenstock said. This year’s FIRST Robotics Competition game is called Ultimate Ascent. The goal of the game is to create a robot that is able to pick up and shoot frisbees into goals located at varying distances above the ground. Another task is designing the robot with the ability to climb a pyramidshaped structure for extra points. Lowell’s students played the game in an alliance made up of three FRC teams in a face-off with an alliance of three competitors. Lowell robotics placed second overall at the Regional at San Jose State University on April 4 to 6 with 25 members of

the team attending. Even though they were unsuccessful in winning finals, Team 4159 was awarded the Wild Card slot and will be going to the FIRST 2013 Championship in St. Louis from April 2427. “This is a very famous and competitive regional and we made it to the finals against one of the most famous if not the most famous Team 254, the Cheesy Poofs who are sponsored by NASA,” Haubenstock said. At the SVR, CardinalBotics played one of the highest scoring games of the day on April 5, with a score of 140-59. In the SVR finals, 4159 placed second, working in tandem with 1868 — The Space Cookies, representing Girl Scouts from around the Bay Area — and 973 — Greybots, from Atascadero High School — against the other triads. To attend the FRC Championship, a team must normally compete and win on a regional level. Due to FIRST’s wild card

system, which was first implemented at the start of the 2013 season, Team 4159 made it into the championship. “I’m very surprised that we’re going as a secondyear team without the Rookie All-Star Award,” robotics club president senior Winson Quan said. CardinalBotics had been awarded the Rookie All-Star Award in their previous, and first season. Last year the award given to the team allowed them to attend the St. Louis 2012 Championship. According to the robotics club vice president of public relations junior Ofri Harlev, there the team placed 57th. Prior to the Silicon Valley Regional, CardinalBotics attended the Central Valley Regional, which took place from March 1 through 3 at Madera South High School. At the Central Valley Regional, the team managed to place 3rd overall (See “Robotics club moves from basketballs to frisbees,” The Lowell, April 2013).

Driver damages student vehicle From CAR ACCIDENT on Page 1 but she was going so much faster than that.” Ouyang received her Lexus nearly two years ago as a 16th birthday present, and it held special meaning to her. “I love my car — she’s my baby,” Ouyang said. “My friends and I named it the ‘Ratchet-mobile.’ We had many fun times in it.” The damages to Ouyang’s Lexus have rendered it unusable. “The whole back trunk was caved in,” Ouyang said. “It won’t even open. I actually had a lot of things in the trunk that I can’t get out. One of the engine parts completely fell off. The whole bumper also popped out.” Adding to the difficulty, the driver did not have insurance,

and the Lexus was totaled, according to Ouyang. “My mom bought insurance that does cover accidents with uninsured motorists, but it only pays us back $3,500, and my Lexus was worth $41,000,” Ouyang said. “We can’t really do anything about it right now. We’re considering filing a lawsuit, but the whole process is just too long, and we don’t really know what we’re going to do yet.” Losing her car has been more than an inconvenience for Ouyang. “I’m used to having a car — it makes me really independent, but now I have to depend on people to get to places,” Ouyang said. “I have to bus everywhere now and it’s just really different.”

Scholarship funds science passion

From SCHOLARSHIP on Page 1 application process included basic background information and a series of short answer questions about students’ interests, experiences, and long-term career goals. “Since they weren’t very similar to the college prompts I wrote to for UC’s and private colleges, I had to put a good deal of thought and consideration into my responses,” Huang said.

Christina Lee, Herbert Lee, Shapiro and Ye selected the recipients for their passion for science. “Science is a clear way for me to explore the beauty of nature,” Chuang said. “I like doing experiments, and there’s the sense of satisfaction when solving problems and finding interesting patterns during analysis.” The scholarship money will help recipients pay college tuition. “I plan to put the money toward college, knowing

it is money well earned and money well spent.” Huang said. Some of the students plan to pursue a career in the world of science. “I’m definitely leaning towards something in the field of science, maybe human biology to start with,” Kwan said. “I have until the end of my sophomore year to declare a major, so I hope to explore my options more!” A VERSION OF THIS STORY FIRST APPEARED ON WWW.THELOWELL.ORG

May 3, 2013

8 NEWS

Lowell High School

Musical performers participate in dance concert By Rayming Liang

USICAL THESPIANS joined “shadow dancing” and tumbling dancers at this year’s spring dance event. Performers from the spring musical Crazy for You also put on a number in the Lowell Dance Concert on April 19-20: “equilibrium.” Three weeks before the dance concert, two Dance Company captains informed members of the musical about the number. “As far as I recall, we have never reproduced a musical number from the spring musical in the dance concert,” dance teacher Wendy Jones stated in an email on April 25. The number was a key performance that further enhanced the lively dance concert. “It was a dynamic number that included tap and helped make the concert very diverse,” Jones said. “I also like to expose the audience to various styles so it was the perfect piece.” Ten members from the musical reenacted a shortened version of “I’ve Got Rhythm,” an

upbeat jazz number performed in the musical. “We practiced a few times before the dance concert, but as we had already practiced it three months beforehand, it was really simple to remember,” senior Hiromi Fujita said. Despite having a shortened version of the number, the performers from the musical truly felt the rhythm. “It’s a crowd pleaser,” junior Campbell Gee said. “It brings a lot of energy to the crowd and also pumps up the energy of the stage.” Gee is also a reporter for The Lowell. Dance Company puts on two concerts each year, adding performance to their practices. As stated on the Lowell Dance website (www. lowelldance.com): “dancers at all levels demonstrated the technique, choreography, and compositional elements they learned throughout the semester. The Lowell Dance Company also performed work that had been performed throughout the Bay Area, which included choreography by Wendy Jones and members of the company.”

Performance and award dedicated to fallen dancer By Emily Fong

dancer. “Tiffany was a reminder of what the VERY YEAR, dance classes and the program is about — training dancers that move Lowell Dance Company put on a per- with passion and intent but also give back and formance for the school, jumping and inspire others,” dance teacher Wendy Jones said. twirling across the stage in a masterful dis- “I worked closely with her in a piece I had to play of technique. However, underneath the create for my master’s degree. “My graduate spotlights, this year’s school professors and show carried a somber undertone. As Tiffany was a re- colleagues were blown away by the sophistiThe show was minder of what the pro- cation and level of indedicated to a class the dancers of 2010 alumna and gram is about — train- vestment had, Tiffany included.” former Dance ComTo celebrate her pany member Tiffany ing dancers that move memory, Jones also Burnoski, who passed with passion and intent created a dance award away in early April. Burnoski’s name: In tribute, a video but also give back and in “Tiffany Burnoski: of one of her solo perThe Spirit of Lowell formances from her inspire others.” Dance,” awarded to senior year, “Finding Myself ” was shown WENDY JONES, an exceptional dancer to the audience. In a dance teacher who embodies Burnoski’s hardworking unique multimedia piece, the Dance Company performed along- ethic and dance skill. The award will be given on the second night side a video of her in a separate piece, “Brick of Lowell’s annual dancer performances, along by Brick.” Burnoski was known for being a dedicated with other awards.

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May 3, 2013

ALL PHOTOS ON PAGE 9 BY SALLY MA

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10 NEWS

May 3, 2013

Lowell High School

Happy Birthday Lowell

The school celebrated its 50th anniversary at the Eucalyptus Drive campus with a day of student performances, club demonstrations, historical slideshows and other activities organized by the Lowell Alumni Association on April 13

Alumni Association Clubs showcase work organizes event, ceremony and bond with alumni By Brian Nguyen

himself on the wall and captured everyone’s N APRIL 13, LOWELL alumni attention,” Eshoo said. At 11:30 a.m., attendees gathered in the and their guests were invited to the school campus for a 50th Anniver- Carol Channing Theater for a welcoming cersary celebration of Lowell’s Eucalyptus Drive emony celebrating the history of the campus. Campus. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., visitors After a procession by the Lowell High School toured the campus and enjoyed a welcoming Color Guard, guest speakers shared their ceremony organized by the Lowell Alumni memories and opinions of the aging campus with the audience. CNN and KGO broadAssociation. Over 1,200 guests visited the campus for caster and alumnus Jack Hanson introduced the celebration, according to LAA Board each speaker with comedic flair. Guest speakers included recently promoted of Directors member Claudia Wolf Eshoo. Throughout the event, visitors toured the cam- San Francisco Unified School District deputy superintendent and pus and dropped alumna Gwen Chan into many student and Linda Perino clubs and organiAll of our [activities] Martin, daughter zations. “Most of of Jasper A. Perino, the alumni who concluded with the sing- the first principal to graduated before June 1962 from the ing of The Lowell Hymn, oversee the Eucalyptus campus. Also “Old Lowell” cama Lowell tradition for us.” present during the pus on Hayes Street, ceremony were repnever saw the “New resentatives of CaliLowell,” Eshoo said. CLAUDIA WOLF ESHOO fornia state senator “It was exciting for LAA Board of Directors Mark Leno, who them.” presented a senate Planning for the event began four months before the event proclamation commemorating Lowell’s hisin January, according to Eshoo. All of the tory. Messages from those unable to attend were advertising, decorations, and photographic coverage were paid for by the LAA. The event also read at the ceremony. Among them were was a few months off of the anniversary of the former Lowell principal Alan Fibish as well as actual opening date of the Eucalyptus campus: Jack Anderson, a current member of the LAA September 5, 1962. The event was originally Board of Directors and Wall of Tradition, acplanned for last October, but was postponed cording to Eshoo. “Each of you carries a bit of because it fell on the same day as Beautifica- the treasure that is Lowell with you and you can display it with pride,” Fibish was quoted tion Day, according to Eshoo. After a lunch break, visitors caught a in writing. “Enjoy this day.” To conclude the ceremony, the Lowell glimpse of changes made to the Alumni Wall of Tradition, located in the main hall next to Advanced Choir performed covers of poputhe library. New additions to the wall include lar hits by The Beatles and a rendition of the San Francisco Giants CEO Larry Baer and Lowell Hymn. “All of our assemblies, spirit 2010 Academy Award Winner Charles Fergu- rallies, games, and graduation (still played son. Two alumni, Baer and Betty Lipschultz today) concluded with the singing of The were at the event to see their portraits on the Lowell Hymn, a Lowell tradition for us,” wall for the first time. “Mr. Larry Baer was Eshoo said. “We knew the lyrics and enjoy very animated and engaging when he saw singing it to this day.”

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Choir teacher Jason Chan leads the Advanced Choir as they sing an end to the welcoming ceremony. The student vocalists performed pieces from The Beatles as well as The Lowell Hymn.

By Gisela Kottmeier

had an individual events contestant, junior Yu lumni reminisced over their ling Wu, present a humorous interpretation high school days by visiting their former extra-curricular activities nament. The students talked to many former and the current generation who is continuing Forensics members, discussing the team’s the clubs’ legacy. The alumni shared past rankings and tournaments. mock Trial had memories of their time at lowell and students two demonstrations where they presented updated them on information regarding the opening and closing statements to the alumni. The school also showcased academic clubs and the school in general. Peer resources helped at the event by groups, such as the science research Program having Peer mentors work an information and the chemistry show club. The club had - two presentations where they demonstrated ing classrooms and ask questions about the turning a penny gold school. some alumni exappearing bubbles, a perienced difficulty Everyone was really color changing oscilfinding the ceramics room, not only due to friendly and genu- lator, and the all-time favorite, the whoosh its remote location but inely interested in bottle. because the wrong room From 12-1:30 p.m., number was printed in our research.” the science research the pamphlet of activiProgram presented their ties. despite the confuMARY LATIBASHVILI, research to the alumni sion, ceramics got an junior with large poster boards outstanding turnout of in the first floor hallhundreds of visitors. way. An alumni who is Alumni were able to take a tour of the room to view students’ work, including bowls, cups a medical science writer and research librarian gave several students her card in case and plates. Visitors could talk to ceramics students, they wanted guidance with their research. who were required to come for 50 minutes “everyone was really friendly and genuinely interested in our research,” junior mary labeing an “open studio artist” carried rewards. tibashvili said. The Myriad and The Lowell presented their “it was nice to see them — they were all excited,” sophomore marina Kananova said. archives to the alumni. The Myriad staff reAnother hot spot of the day was the robot- ceived a visit from an alumnus who was a ediics team, who sported their club t-shirts at the tor from approximately thirty years ago and event. unfortunately, students were unable to The Lowell staff received a visit from many show off their inventions — robots that throw former Lowell journalists, including current basketballs and frisbees — because they sent their most recent robot to st. louis, missouri and took a picture with the journalism staff. some students walked around the campus for a competition. The club was still a popular attraction though, as the club was recently passing out recent and award-winning newsformed and new to the alumni. students stood papers while others stayed in the journalism next to their robot answering questions about room discussing their experience writing for the newspaper. The Lowell archive, which their robots and the club itself. debating clubs, including Forensics and dates back to the 1920s showed former stumock Trial, made an appearance at the event dents, their pictures and articles from their as well. A few times during the day, Forensics high school days.

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ALL PHOTOS BY HUIMIN ZHANG

The Lowell reporter senior Ashley Louie shows recent issues of the newspaper to visitors.

The Lowell

NEWS

May 3, 2013

PIHOTO COURTESY OF LOWELL SESQUICENTENNIAL BOOK PHOTO COURTESY OF GOOGLE

(Left) The 26-acre, newly-built Eucalyptus campus in 1963. (Right) A bird’s-eye view of the campus in 2011, with the notable addition of the science building, which was completed in 2003.

Student performances spice up activities By Noreen Shaikh

priately playing a piece that was performed at

he school’s celebration of its 50th anniversary at the eucalyptus drive campus dramatically danced in to emote from a podium with a variety of performances throughout the day. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on April 13, the eight recitals ranged from comedy acts, poetry readings, musical shows and a demonstration

“concerto for Two Violins in d minor” by Johan sebastian Bach, featuring multiple soloists. They played “Kol nidrei” by max Bruch featuring senior ivan chu as solo cellist and

he Zhanhao and chen Gang featuring senior michelle Tong as violin soloist. At 3 p.m. the Advanced orchestra played “capriol suite for strings” by Peter Warlock, team. The one-Act comedy performance “lament & canzona” by henry Purcell and themes from “The started at 12:30 p.m. rite of spring” by in the steve silver stravinsky, Theater. The play Even though it’s a script- igor pieces selected bewas called “Fifteen minute hamlet” ed piece, you definitely cause they were performed earlier by Tom stoppard. have to be ready to im- in the spring con“The alumni place in comedic provise if anything hap- cert. were very excited, one-act plays at the ohlone college’s pens, especially when it s u p p o r t i v e a n d friendly about the theater festival comes to comedy.” performances,” mu(www.ohlone.edu) sic teacher michele in march. “every Winter said. time we perform our ALMA CARRANZA, The JroTc one-act, it still feels junior d r u m & B u g l e new and exciting corps, JroTc because every audience is different,” junior Alma carranza said. Boys drill Team and JroTc Girls drill “sometimes you get big reactions, sometimes Team presented their tightly synchronized you don’t. even though it is a scripted piece, marches between 1:30 -2:00 p.m. The drum and Bugle corps presented to the alumni a taste anything happens, especially when it comes to of what they have worked on throughout the comedy. so you’re always on your toes.” The semester. The drill teams performed dance drama class also presented another scene from choreography using their feet and their voice. “drill team is a lot of hard work that pays off “Travesties” by Tom stoppard, at 1:30 p.m. students passionately recited poems for the when it comes down to performing,” freshmen Aiko little said. The Jazz Band jazzed it up at 2 p.m. in the p.m. in the meyer library and the second at 1 p.m. in the steve silver Theater. students were carol channing Theater. The band played a recruited from their english classes to recite variety of songs including “The Queen Bee,” a variety of original poems that they wrote “stomping at savoy,” “come Fly With me,” in class with poetry teacher susan Terrence. “Polka dot and moon Beans,” “summer “it was really nice to hear everyone’s feeling Time” and more. “it was really nice percome out in poetry,” performer freshman forming for the alumni, many of them were reminiscing good memories, shared stories and Gemma loyd said. The symphonic orchestra tuned up at 1 experiences of when they were in band,” band p.m. in the carol channing Theater, appro- player senior Aaron o’hearn said.

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Historic slideshows allow alumni to reminisce By Lucy Wu

shirt and the Sesquicentennial edition book OWELL ALUMNI retraced their ex- published in 2007, dedicated to “the history periences on the Eucalyptus campus of Lowell High School in writing and pictures with a plethora of activities organized dating from 1856 to 2006,” Eshoo said. Among the one thousand-plus alumni by the Lowell Alumni Association. History slideshows held in Room 220 dis- that gathered on the Eucalyptus campus were played photographs from the Lowell Archive the CEO of the San Francisco Giants Larry that dated back to 1956. LAA Events Chair Baer as well as broadcast traffic coordinator member Claudia Eshoo described the eight- of Radio 99.7 Elaine Leung. Baer and Leung minute slideshow as the “time capsule of the both visited The Lowell journalism room last 50 years,” including photographs of the during the day. While Baer had a group Eucalyptus campus being built in 1961, and picture taken with students, Leung shared some advice. highlights from “When you go to sport events, thebe open ater performances In order to go forward, college, to taking online and club events. The history slideyou sometimes have to media courses; the future is going show pictures were take a step back. Pause to to be more social gathered from The based, and Lowell archives, take in the moment, and media you have to adapt LAA history books, old yearbooks and as you move forward, use to that,” she said. Looking back Eshoo’s personal that to reclaim yourself.” at their life, some collection. alumni waxed Lowellites also philosophical. “In had the chance HAKIM ABDUL-BADI, order to go forto contact former class of ‘88 alumnus ward, you someclassmates and stutimes have to take dents of various decades. From 12 – 2 p.m., alumni made their a step back,” said class of ‘88 alumnus Hakim way to the cafeteria or courtyard and stopped Abdul-Badi. “Pause to take in the moment, by their dedicated tables for a classmate re- and as you move forward, use that to reclaim union. At 2:30 p.m., the Steve Silver Theater yourself.” Other alumni found the visit meaningful was available for a Lowell student panel discussion and Q & A session. “I planned it in practical ways. “I came thinking I would be to help alumni get a better sense of what life here to reminisce, but wow, I leave wanting to is like now as a Lowell student,” said LAA give back to Lowell,” said class of ‘88 alumna Tina Richey. “Revisiting Lowell reminded Executive Director Terence Abad. As a way for old friends to get keepsakes, that we went to a good institution of learning, photo booths were set up in the Carol it’s a place where you rekindle relationship Channing Theater lobby. The Meyer Library and grow new ones.” opened at 1 p.m. for sales of the Lowell sweat-

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ALL PHOTOS BY HUIMIN ZHANG

The Junior Reserve Officer Training Core Boys’ Drill Team performs a synchronized drill.

Past and future generations of Lowell students look through the 1989 yearbook, checking out the class photos, sports teams, student clubs and other fun memories.

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nudity out public . b w a la y e it C th e f de th nts, many a o wearing drama insi ed by Lowell stude should , e e m Th o s f it ape ye s o unnotic ly believe e n a ke d e norm of not gone are not . “I strong it ts t And to th public is outside th arner Plaza has is r d o u p n p ng as om su W in h lo se it w n f so su Ja , o g e y d n a a e te W s. 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A person stand flaunting their p o ia o ll c e a p ffi t o a that rse ment on’t b f lewd ally ated th d o st su I n a it . c d io , is it se le re d u p Nature he e d a eo t all; nowh tion aro with the rowd of p e obstruc s, Amendment a s.” light in a c . th t, c ency of u d n it co suit the indec exhib r clothe l a n to a e a r u w d x F ll e te birthday s a c n , a o je sh c might be ts ob e to S ight t of traffi ilians are annoyed r a d that it er studen e eral ie We lc o m b r th v r k li O a o st w h o d m , an re rs. “I thin You of the or if civ e r exposure e civilians a e behavio mselves c If m li w . e cisco, one US of A, alongb d tr u e u x p d e o n e y se e or off st to more right to express the ense can choo cities in th rk City, Los Anbe nude, the cataly o ded, they t n s n e e ff r o have the , r o at the exp a Y y a a w ’s e w t ple should want to be, but not a side N .C. and c it iz e n o e h D a p t have n n to n ig g s r n o to shin b are u o they who don’t e y h , n iv w t n a ss e h re m ” b re d geles, Wa g g d h il i n ic h ro lly c ended by, ey a the r card, wh ll fairly p s a rs, especia gs they may be off r, I do h ecause th Bay e b e , th e o Seattle, a o th d n f y o o to b g e e City ia l at away wdilolinnot want to be coinnsigdto- choice in seeinrisgtethninLeung said. “Hlloowweevd certain places. Th h t r it s s o c e fo k d a e t n a to is r e n ow r-culture ish, accord ekly freshman K eople should be ered prud e and counte diverep .” s promise.” W e F u m S th o o c 0 e y 1 a v 0 e s f tolerance 2 li a o e r m s t e b a o o b e opinp re r m a g f e c ts eltin publi IS Dec Nu d is pressed th d V “ x A e te d a D ti e n n g E tl a image, a m ing. Along with si ti G ig e d en down a ra Z GEOR dar first step more Lau ist ar ti cle osition in an ung o v e a h ti fl th p c o s a w a S sity and o y w b it dity nud shouldn’t find opp ights rain e Castro.” ion that public nu ravity. “I think it h T : the gay r one days of the e c la ore people f dep ere likely p yg lead to m only ry slope o de, you w e ld u s, p u and the b n ie o ip e p said. w sl b ip it h to bury said. right ecause ping,” she sh is a b v A ro e l a d t g v e ia h D a d c w h e ig n o a so a u ll rg H yo eo uld be a rape t large “Basically y,” nudity activist G ncisco wo adly, as in ode and society a ing m you.” b o d g fr te y in p a v e a c w in San Fra a c a h a c e w at rd both an born that to take th ed its b owell’s own dress ules rega L nudity be s the right ublic nudity reach eration in r a attitude chest in h x e . is im la n h r ic s o c p it g o is r n to y fo bari out p t 8 Sup nder d le b l “N ic e a a a g tr n m te is o w a and thorn isco is noteworthy ss o D ti b e p e n sh tl o e rare and ingThe d 2, wh on A shir males are or less ber of 201 area of representati San Franc , wit h thre e cloth and Lands l nudity. fe a m ti e ss r v a le o p p N in re t to nudity hall Beach r peak ott Wiener— whose duced legislation to is acceptable, bu tice which has mo than it towards each, Mars ssed away in favo c c o S B re tr r ra r o to e o p in g k m is a a v s in , — B st d e e astro tic accord n be to beaches: discourag omen and their ch des the C rancisco, imsuits ca ing-optional athle d F lu e c sw n tl a ti in S re n e w e h in d End, w al cloth c nudity Guardian d World sexualize has men. the difin. Annu rs Race an oose ban publi 2012 article in The ncisco’s nudity t views on n e rr u of bare sk e the Bay to Breake C r h e c ra b can male and vem San F lud between fe enced articipants s the Gay a No aked truth about s p e c re n events inc e h re w fe s flu e Ride, , such a “The n an c e b an ies have in c ie ty o Naked Bik Some social events t Fair, do not t he ordin male bod T d so ts .” a s r w e a n o . e l a p e e h b d tr u d l u ns on pr iv ate thlsom S o io o f lo to ride n F c o in w f p d e o o of the r n s t a u I g s ts expo ekend . In term cludin e d y p ar d o in n b b e , s ’t tt e e a e sn c th l e to la Pride We o s p d es k that see p e op e in public irts or sho n Francisco usually don’t thin r ts , bu s e s “I o e e s. s e 0 tr m x s 6 se , e require sh a o S ts th , , as in twost consider a girl topleastsss re stau r an ough there are sphere of y k thereof) l d a w b o h ing (or lac The carefree atmo th g , d s, n m havi cause bre e. ern perio and train -approved ng.” acceptable bern i is blink twic ing to a more mod s boundaries. p ns for pre o o r s ti g a p e d into th c s, d it d x ir s fa e n a a e reet fa een tu e p st b a t, and 70s is n San Francisco h s in the Castro e c d r v n je a a b h s o e r ual rad nde e eve an pa le tely s e x get past hildren u to troversy li p m c n ever, and u o m r h c o fo c r e s fo th a f n o g ub ell mbolic h people ca The heart or- w ge of five, accordin in ral and sy torical gay neighb TI but if ct, there is nothing a te N e le li c A th ti a r IG a t, Z 2 ic Distr the his LAURA me out, b er 201 that aspe phomore ed ut and co a D e cem e spirit of phomore wrong with it,” so ews entitl o N s y rights. Th ays been to stand o by strollers has il a D . the NY alw of ba San Franathup said , but hood has cent surge out social limits. “Time to cover up! Sierra Co re rk e n o w w th o l h d g fu s b u tho strike ions a b eauti st y a e ll u the ia is q c y d ffi e d d o ”. spark an b o cisco d bare to rd vote n m a a u o h b ly c e in li h b y T dit rsy are ed pu public nu is a $100 controve d violabe exhibit t ir se a it n th e th ld ff a f u o o o t h sh wit ut only ides The firs fine and he two s l nudity, b ople $200 fine T ia a 0 c 0 ? 5 is so ld $ f r d o o a n e pe su t w fine, seco g penalties up to reveal if ver the is allege tha yin stem will o “au naturel,” clashing o activists sy l y a t, it g n d e le u tion carr n e isc the nd m jail. Som San Franc irst Ame time and s long a year in tes the F streets of h and c e nudity ha la e c e th io li v sp b lk a u n f a o P w b n s. m y a e f San o c it o th d d e t lo u e c aspe the n with c which d ht to fr t, p n g n u a ri e r e e e m c v d n th o n c ra s e females ppea th Ame s or which giv rsistent a ales than e nd the 14 rights. Wiener ha m p a , a re n o n io e m e ss b the way ng to self-expre qual protection ct that he Francisco, appeali equality in other fa in l e ia e th c s h e so it o guarante easure w dity in ggesting a gardless, n with equent nu stify his m perhaps, su are our bodies. Re m o d e e fr tried to ju complaints about fr b ws such ich we o h ll w d a e s in iv te e c ta has re nited S vote by er Plaza. ed by one ity in the U lothes. Jane Warn re, which was pass isors, sparked c t) u itho c cisco. The measu o Board of Superv sted in the (or w Only in San Fran c te is c ro n p ra the San F from nudists, who dit y is on indignati y Ha ll, w here nu it eir arC th t a t led to nu d e c a is th h oug the end illegal. Th not mean id d ly in udity ta rest, it cer tion to the public n si filed o of the opp ion, nudist activists st it d a d it ag in ban. In a ghts lawsu o and ri il iv c l ncisc a federa f San Fra the city o ncisco Police Dera e ban to the San F ing for th nal sk a t, n e itutio partm d unconst ment re la c e d be rc e king enfo and bloc

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The Lowell Backpage May 3, 2013

Y D KT KELL

BERLY LI AN

NS BY KIM

IO ILLUSTRAT

Reporter tumbles i n t o t h e o b s c u re sports of the world.

Lowell High School May 3, 2013

Page 13

HUIMIN ZHANG

Junior center fielder Carly Wong bunts during the Cards’ 12-2 victory over Balboa on April 25. The team clinched a playoff spot and will compete for a championship spot next week.

Softball changes lineup, dominates league By Sam Tick-Raker

HE SOFTBALL TEAM, coming off an undefeated championship season, is ready to continue their dominance in the Academic Athletic Association. Last year the team played only a few games that were not decided by the mercy rule — the custom that the game ends if one team scores either 15 runs after the third inning or 10 runs after the fifth. The Cardinals hope to repeat that success, and so far their plan is looking good. They are 9-0 in league play and 11-2 overall, their only losses coming against Mills High School on March 4 and Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory on March 18. The girls have put up a fight against every private school they have played, defeating both The Urban School on Feb. 26 and San Mateo High School on March 8. The hard-working squad has changed its set-up dramatically since last season. “Only two players are returning to old positions,” head coach Sascha Taylor-Ray said. “Seven

players are playing new positions; new dy- Fellow senior and pitcher Majenta Strongheart namics of new positions would be the team’s is a perfect example. Last year she played first weakness.” base and now is the team’s starting pitcher. The team needs to ensure that they collabo- Taylor-Ray describes Stongheart’s performance rate on the field, according to senior outfielder so far as “fantastic.” Polly Lesaguis. “If we don’t communicate, then Strongheart and Lesaguis are working there won’t be chemistry hard to replace Willis on the field,” Lesaguis and Donohue as the stated in a text message new captains. “We on April 15. “We can’t It was daunting to are always trying to win games that way bethe playcome into the role of motivate cause it’s important that ers to do their best,” our team guide each captain. As a pitcher it Strongheart said. “It other, especially when a was daunting for me was intimidating, but to come into the role play is being made.” The team is missof captain. As a pitchalso exciting.” ing two strong athletes er it was intimidating, who graduated last year, MAJENTA STRONGHEART, but also exciting.” starting pitcher Michelle With sophomore senior pitcher Willis and catcher Madcloser Jena Lacayo dy Donohue, which has and starter Stongforced this year’s team to try to fill their shoes. heart, the team’s pitching is solid. Having “[It] made everyone step up,” Lesaguis said. Lacayo has helped the team immensely be-

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Athlete of the Month:

Leslie Fung

By Luming Yuan

style, 54.83 in the 100-yard free, 1:07.37 in the 100 backstroke For many, the pristine waters of their community pool and 24.97 in the 50 free, just shy of the girls’ 50 free record promise not vacation but sore muscles, long dreary hours — 24.72. Fung has also taken second for the past three years spent trying to pull off a back flip and ultimately, a deep in both the 100 and 50 freestyle at All-City Finals. In addilonging for their couch and tion, she helped set the television. For senior swimmer Personal Records: AAA records for 200 Leslie Fung, however, cutting medley relay and the 200 yard freestyle: 2:03.86 powerfully through the water is 400 and 200 freestyle a way to relieve stress. At the age 100 yard freestyle: 54.83 relays in 2012. Besides of three, when most toddlers are 100 yard backstroke: 1:07. 37 league events, Fung has afraid to dip their toes into the 50 yard freestyle: 24.97 also participated in the water, Fung had already learned

how to paddle around the pool. Four years later, she joined the Koret Youth Swim Club where she still practices during the off-season, culminating in 10 years of competitive swimming. During her swim team career, Fung has achieved outstanding times. She glides in at 2:03.86 in the 200-yard free-

cause without her Strongheart would be the only pitcher on the team. “Her pitches have a lot of movement and speed,” Stongheart said. “She’s worked hard for a really long time.” Though the pitching is strong, Taylor-Ray wants to focus on offense. “I like all batters to swing hard and reach a base,” she said. Even with this mentality, hitting is not necessarily the team’s strength. “Our defense is better than our offense,” Strongheart said. And maintaining a good defense is key. In the team’s only two losses this year, defensive errors were the main reason the team gave up runs. Inclusion is another thing that makes the team successful — everyone has something to offer. Not just one or two players get all the hits or score all the runs; softball is the essence of group collaboration. “Everyone has a strength which contributes to the whole team,” Lesaguis said. The 2013 varsity softball team works hard, has good chemistry and a high level of talent which makes them a clear favorite of their fans to win the championship again.

Junior Olympics, where she took first in the 50 free and second in the 100 free. “I love the feeling of satisfaction after swimming a challenging set and the feeling after finally achieving a goal,” Fung said.

Some athletes may prize their own achievements over other aspects, but Fung is all about synergy. “Most importantly, I love being with my team,” Fung said. “It’s always fun at practice, from pushing each other through a hard practice to singing and laughing in the showers after.” Although heading off to college will cause numerous changes in Fung’s life, she is confident that at least one thing will remain the same. “I’m not sure how competitively I will swim after high school, but I know I still want swimming to be a part of me,” she said. Keep your eyes peeled, because you never know! There just might be a chance that Fung will compete in the next Olympic Games. PHOTO COURTESY OF LESLIE FUNG

14 SPORTS

Lowell High School

May 3, 2013

Unchallenged, girls’ soccer leads league

By Luke Haubenstock learn new skills; Coach Kyra works on offense HE GIRLS’ VARSITY soccer team aims while Coach Lindsay focuses on the defense.” to put another AAA Championship The new coaches have brought their win under their belt this season, hoping own style and innovative strategies to the to defend their two-year winning streak. The team. “We’re using a new 4-3-3 formation team includes a set of new faces—a revamped to play as a cohesive unit while allowing coaching staff and a large number of first-year each player to showcase their individual freshmen and sophomores. technique,” Kallenburg said. “The formation When long-time coach Marcos Estebez left allows our forwards to be more creative and the team after a series of successful seasons, our defenders to join in the offensive attack.” players anticipated working with a new coach. When eight seniors graduated follow“Marcos brought a ing their undefeated lot of excitement and championship seaenergy to the team,” last year, many I hope Coach Lindsay son junior Cate Stern spots opened up. s ai d . “Wh e n w e and Coach Kyra continue “We lost a lot of seheard that he would niors, but the new to coach next year, be- freshmen and sophleave, we were unsure of what impact cause the Lowell soccer omores are great a new coach would additions,” Kallenprogram can really grow burg said. “They’ve have on the team.” New head coach meshing well, under their leadership.” been Lindsay Kaufman so it’s been an easy ANNIE CORKERY transition.” Eight has stepped in to fill senior co-captain members joined the his cleats. Kaufman brings with her 15 team this year, and years of coaching experience, from micro-soccer immediately determined to maintain Lowto the Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory girls’ ell’s dominance in the Academic Athletic soccer team. “Coach Lindsay is very approach- Association. able, open-minded and knowledgeable,” junior The Cardinals plan on treating the chalcaptain Jenny Kallenburg said. “She is always lenges brought on by the various changes as willing to help us as both individuals and as a opportunities. “This season has been a very team.” positive experience,” Corkery said. “I hope Assistant coach Kyra Scalercio is another ad- Coach Lindsay and Coach Kyra continue dition to the school’s soccer program. “Having to coach next year, because the Lowell soctwo coaches offers new points of views,” senior cer program can really grow under their captain Annie Corkery said. “From each we leadership.”

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SALLY MA

Gymnastics tumbles into first

By Andrew Pearce HE UNDEFEATED GIRLS’ gymnastic team looks to propel themselves into first place after placing second at last year’s California Interscholastic Federation Central Coast Section Championship. Last season, the Cardinals got second place in the CCS championships, behind the St. Francis Lancers. St. Francis is known to be the best in the league, as they have many club gymnasts. “While we know that St. Francis is really good, we’re trying to focus on ourselves,” senior Heather Weiss said. “Coach Lesley makes sure that even though not all of us are on club teams, we are all conditioned really hard.” The Cards competed against St. Francis on April 23. “Varsity got second to St. Francis, while JV won decisively, sweeping 1-2-3-4 All Around and are still undefeated,” de Dios said. According to coach Lesley de Dios, both JV and varsity have room for improvement, especially on the uneven bars. “As the season progresses, we are continuing to work on bars for JV and hopefully add a couple more gymnasts to our line up,” de Dios said. “Bars are also varsity’s weak spot, but we’re working on it. The girls are continuing to make upgrades in their routines and I am really proud with their progression.” According to de Dios, although not perfect on the bars, the team has strong floor scores and their beam scores are getting better. The team does not have as many gymnasts as other Santa Clara Valley Athletic League teams, but their gymnastic skills are well spread out, making them strong in most areas. “With only 11 girls total on JV and 11 on varsity, it

really helps that we have strong girls on each event. They’ve all been really proactive in learning new skills and making our team deep,” de Dios said. On April 9, the JV team beat Cupertino, who has a 22girl JV team, double the Cards, with the overall scores — all the gymnast’s scores from every apparatus combined — of 174.650 to 174.350. “I think that proves how strong our girls are and that quality defeats quantity,” de Dios said. According to de Dios, the three freshmen on the team, Katelyn Ewe, Jolie Chiu and Mimi Price have all been very beneficial, as two of them, Chiu and Price, are club gymnasts and compete at a very high level. “I only have three freshmen on the team, two of which are on varsity and they have been a huge factor in our line up,” de Dios said. The team has many returning gymnasts who help out at practices, giving de Dios more time to coach individually. “When I’m busy working with another gymnast, the girls step up and try to help each other with a certain skill or dance piece,” de Dios said. Senior gymnast Tamara Chan added, “Since we only have one coach, it’s hard for her to get around to all of us, so the team as a whole steps in and helps each other out at practice.” De Dios knows what it takes to coach her team to victory. “Being an ex-gymnast myself, I know what it’s like to compete, to practice and condition each day,” de Dios said. “I use similar drills with my girls as when I was a gymnast but I’m also always learning and incorporating new drills into practice.” The CCS Championship is at Gymtowne Gymnastics SSF on May 15 at 4 p.m.

KARA SCHERER

Badminton in third season of co-ed play

By Gisela Kottmeier & Noreen Shaikh HIS YEAR, THE Lowell badminton team is aiming for its second consecutive championship in its third season of co-ed play. The Cards won 4-3 against the rival Balboa Buccaneers on April 23, taking girls singles, two girls doubles, and one boys doubles. There are seven games that are used to determine the overall score, with the victorious team winning the majority. The matches consist of girls singles, boys singles, two girls doubles, two boys doubles and one mixed doubles. Earlier, on April 18, the Cardinals defeated Galileo — another one of the team’s major rivals — 5-2, winning all but the boys single and the mixed doubles matches. Since its opening to boys, the team has had a male majority — this year with 10 girls and 11 boys. “Boys have added a new dynamic to the league. The boys have made badminton more competitive,” coach Christine Hosoda, who has coached the team for the past five years, said. The co-ed Cardinals have been working together and aiming for big wins. “There’s definitely a different level between guys and girls,” sophomore Sharon Ma said. “There are higher expectations for the guys than the girls.” The Cardinals are determined to take the lead and practice harder than ever. However, this year the team lost gym time, which caused practices to be scheduled outside more where they could be canceled due to the weather. Outdoor practices consist of running, core workouts, endurance training and agility, preparing the team for indoor scrimmages and games. Cutting gym time by two weeks caused the team to initiate practices in late February instead of the usual mid February. “Less gym time means that there’s less time for players to practice with their partners, and less time for players to develop their skills in general,” senior Verna Chan said. But only three weeks after practicing in the gym, the Cardinals showed that nothing could beat them. The team opened its league season on March 19 with a 5-2 victory over Galileo and then followed it up two days later with a 4-3 victory over Balboa. “The rivals always provide a hard and exciting game to play,” Chan said. “They are good at pushing us to get better by making us see our weaknesses and to fix them.” Last year Lowell lost to Washington 4-3 during the regular season but then came back to beat them 5-2 in the regular season. The team will have their playoff game at 4 p.m. on March 13.

May 3, 2013

The Lowell

SPORTS

Stacked with seniors, Volleyball aims high By Michelle Wong

The Cardinals are ready for another championship, ASS! SET! KILL! Great things come in big num- having bounced back last season from their 2011 3-2 bers as this year’s boys’ varsity volleyball team, defeat to Lincoln. “When I was a sophomore and we comprised of a dominating set of veteran players, lost in the playoffs, I was close to this one captain and he really wanted to win, so now I think about winning wins another match in the game. This season the boys are back, and ready to take on it for the team as a whole, and that loss two years ago is another AAA championship. “We have seven seniors, motivation for me,” Blumenfeld said. Making a comeback last year, the Cards regained the and this means good news because we have a lot of leadership and experience,” senior right side hitter and title of AAA champions in a 3-1 victory against Galileo. co-captain Jacob Blumenfeld said. This year’s seniors “Last year, we were the underdogs because we had a include defensive specialist Jason Leung, offensive hit- loss in the playoffs the year before and we were not that ter Enders Ng and middle hitter Nathan Lau, many of close as a team, but this year we aren’t anymore because we took the championship back whom are now in their third again,” Blumenfeld said. “However, year on the team. still need to stay focused and Head coach Steven Wesley We have seven seniors, we’ll play strong.” has seen these young playand this means good Although confident this season, ers grow up throughout the the boys continue to strive for years. “One player who has news because we have their best performance. “Galileo is been with me on varsity for all four years, Enders Ng, he’s a lot of leadership and our biggest competition because their main players play a lot of actually like my kid,” he said. experience.” club volleyball and they have a lot “He has a lot of young talent of experience,” Blumenfeld said. and throughout the years JACOB BLUMENFELD, “Washington is our second biggest he has grown in confidence, senior co-captain competition because they keep the leadership and responsibility.” ball in play, so it forces us to conBut having many veteran players this season can lead to a challenge next year. Still, tinue playing strong and at a competitive level.” But this the upcoming seniors are looking forward to the next year, the Cardinals easily swept the Lions and the Eagles season.“Even though we don’t play in the league season, in their league games with scores of 3-0 for both matches. According to Wesley, staying focused has been a foevery time the varsity team plays, we as the junior varsity team want to keep up their standards because when cal point for the team. “Especially during slow games, they leave, will be the ones that have to fill their shoes,” it’s hard to stay ‘in the game,’” he said. “It’s important to play your best not just when it counts, like playoffs, but sophomore JV player Justin Pham said. Wesley, who has been coaching both the boys’ and the entire season.” Small mistakes can influence the team’s mindset while girls’ volleyball teams for his third year, is confident that next year’s potential leaders will step up to the challenge. on the court, but the boys are showing the ability to move “Junior Sam Blumenfeld, who’s the current captain Ja- forward. “At the game against Hollister High, we went cob’s younger brother, and sophomore Jeff Lee are both to the fifth set, the most intense set, and people were already leading in their eagerness to play,” he said. “They getting upset at each other and upset at themselves, but are willing to just go and do it without second guessing we captains huddled up and told each other, ‘We can’t get mad; forget about what happened the last set,’ and about their abilities.” we won,” Blumenfeld said.

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Since 2002

CATE STERN

Senior offensive hitter Enders Ng pushes the ball over the net during the Cardinals’ 3-0 sweep of Galileo on April 3.

16 SPORTS

May 3, 2013

Lowell High School

By Andrew Pearce

Imagine if a crazy sport that you wished were real, like racing on stilts or long-distance croquet, actually existed, and you just hadn’t stumbled across it on YouTube yet? Unlike the more established sports such as soccer, baseball and football these lesser-known sports have a special attraction because they have avoided the spotlight. Many also have rich histories and a deep connection to their region of origin, making people think about how, even in our modern world, unknown sports provide distinctive traditions.

Zorbing

Cheese rolling

It wasn’t entertaining enough to watch small rodents roll around in them, so humans have created hamster balls for themselves, with some modifications. A “Zorb” consists of two soft plastic balls, one inside the other. The orbs are connected by hundreds of nylon strings, providing a controlled suspension of the inner ball, making the experience more enjoyable by having the outer ball — and air — absorb the bumps. The rider is in the inner orb and can choose to be strapped in — or not. Even if the rider is not strapped in, the ball can somewhat be directed by shifting weight. The Zorb was first developed in 1994 in Auckland, New Zealand, the birthplace of skydiving and other extreme sports. Inventors Dwayne van der Sluis and Andrew Akers originally wanted to make an orb for walking on water, similar to other inflatable orbs already developed. They added the interior orb so that sphere wouldn’t have to be deflated, although they soon realized that with this design, the orb was hard to control. Then they took their invention onto land, so that the use of a slanted track — and gravity — could control the path of the ball. Zorbing has grown into a worldwide amusement, with facilities in many different countries, however currently there are only four Zorbing facilities in the United States, with none in California. These places are similar to amusement parks, except instead of going upside down in a roller coaster, you are rolling around on the ground. Zorbing is mostly a recreational sport, although there are a variety of competitions that can be done with a friend. There are race-tracks at facilities, where it is possible to race someone down the hill. People also compete to see who can stay standing in the Zorb the longest without tipping over, sort of like being inside a balance ball, instead of on top. Tweaks to the basic Zorb can make the sport even more extreme, such as adding water to the inside orb or rolling across snow or water. Zorbing is a great activity to do with friends and family and only costs around 40 dollars, similar to a typical amusement park such as Six Flags. So the next time you think how cool it would be if a human hamster ball were real, remember that people 15 years ago had this same idea and chose to zorb.

Have you ever wondered what else you could do with cheese besides eat it? The annual Cheese Rolling Festival is on Cooper’s Hill, held near Gloucester, England on the last Monday in May. Cheese rolling is a race to catch a wheel of cheese rolling down a steep, muddy, grass hill. Most contestants end up falling and rolling themselves head over heels all the way down to the bottom, bumping into each other as they tumble. The first person to make it one way or another past the finish line at the bottom of the hill wins the seven to nine pound cheese. At the bottom, some people have the task to try and tackle the rolling contestants, in an effort to kill their momentum and stop them from falling. There are a host of medical emergency teams and ambulances on the scene because of the frequency of serious injuries. Most years, there are numerous contestants that are hospitalized. In 2009, 18 people were injured, though obviously that wasn’t that big of a deal, because that was described as a low number! In 2010, the official Gloucester Cheese Rolling event was canceled when the fans lashed out angrily at the organizers, who had announced that the event, which had always been free to the public, would cost 20 pounds. The organizers also said that they could not handle the growing number of spectators. In 2009, 15,000 fans were at Cooper’s Hill. For the past three years, the local community has organized an unofficial version and flocks of spectators still come to watch the famous seven to nine pound cheese be rolled. Cheese rolling has been around since the fifteenth century and although its exact origins are blurred, men, women and children have always competed down the hill, chasing the cheese. The cheese that is currently used is a Double Gloucester cheese, although it changes with the times. During World War II, there were rations on many foods, and the “cheese roll” was made purely of wood except for a space for a small symbolic piece of cheese in the center. The difference in the cheese through the years of rationing, however, had no effect on the contestants’ ability to bowl down the slope. The next Cooper’s Hill Gloucester Cheese-Rolling event is scheduled for May 27. Although it is very easy to find hills in San Francisco as steep as Cooper’s Hill, please do not try and recreate the Gloucester event without an assortment of ambulances, nurses, surgeons and an ecstatic crowd, waiting in anticipation to see how many times you can possibly roll over.

Bossaball Perfect for the summer, Bossaball is an inventive, new compound sport, mixing volleyball, gymnastics, soccer and music. Played on an inflatable court with a high net and two circular trampolines near the net on both sides, Bossaball consists of two teams of four or five players hitting a ball over a net, similar to volleyball, but using both hands and feet. One player from each team is on their team’s trampoline, bouncing up and down waiting for one of their teammates, who are all on the inflatable court around the trampoline, to set it to them, so they can spike it over. The outside players can only score a single point at a time, but the trampoline jumper can earn three points for every successful spike. Bossaball was invented in 2004 in Spain by belgian Filip Eyckmans, but has spread to many different countries since then, including Brazil, where it has grown tremendously and is now considered part of the culture. Bossaball has also appeared in Germany, Netherlands, Portugal and several other countries. Although extremely popular in Europe and South America, Bossaball is on the brink of catching people’s attention in the U.S. A few American teams have started up and one is even gaining respect in the southern hemisphere. In 2012, the North Carolina State University Bossaball team had the honor of being invited to play with teams in the Brazilian Bossaball Association, one of the best leagues in the world. North Carolina was the first American team to be invited to the BBA. In the 2012 European Bossaball Cup held in the Czech Republic, Holland finally defeated Belgium, after losing to the two-time

Canal Jumping

HOI LE

defending champions in the finals of the previous two tournaments. Now, where does gymnastics fit in? Bossaball is not as competitive as an Olympic sport and can be played more for fun — how can it not be when the court is like a bouncy house? So most bossaballers add in flips and tricks with the ball as entertainment. Also, scoring with any part of the body other than the hands gains your team three points as well, giving players incentives to use their bodies in creative ways, not only the classic soccer kick, but also by doing handsprings and kicking the ball midway through their inverted kick, similar to a bicycle kick. Bossaball amps up the fun as the players bounce to a beat. The referee also acts as a musician, playing music with an assortment of instruments while making the calls. Part of the name of the sport refers to the Bossa Nova, a commonly known Brazilian music similar to the Samba. The crowd can cheer for the team they favor while listening to some grooving ethnic music.

UNG

What do you get when you cross long jumping and tree climbing? Canal jumping is similar to pole-vaulting except the pole is not flexible, and instead of leaping over a high bar, you must make it across a body of water — or else. Originating in the Netherlands, canal jumping uses a large pole ranging between eight and thirteen meters in height, which is fastened at the bottom of the canal. The contestant has to run and jump from a certain distance away from the pole. After leaping, the jumper has to grab on to the pole and then shimmy up it. Once he is higher on the pole, his momentum takes him forward, so he can land in the sand on the other side. Of course the consequence of getting this complicated maneuver wrong is a nice refreshing bath. In the Netherlands it’s called Fierljeppen, which translates to “far leaping” in English. Farmers in the Netherlands used to use poles to jump across small canals to get to different fields and plots of land. Now, besides men, there are four additional groups that you can compete in: seniors, juniors, boys and women. Currently, Bart Helmholt, from Hardegarijp, Netherlands, holds the overall record, established in 2011, with a distance of 21.51 meters. Every year there is a competition called the National Fierljepping Manifestation, in which jumpers come from all over the Netherlands to compete.

The Lowell

May 3, 2013

CoLuMns

Trio tests the ties that bind, friendship survives

By Sheyda Zebarjadian

IKE A DAY at the amusement park, my high school experience was a long, tiring trip that would have been disappointing without my two best friends. We had survived the brutal junior high years – our middle school days of sitting in an overly crowded lunch yard, oblivious to the world around us, were over. Now four years have gone by and senior year is coming to an end. Regardless of all the fights and all the not-sofun situations we got ourselves into, I could not imagine any high school experience without my two best friends. The first day of high school was a confusing new world filled with giant lockers, things called Regs, and boys with full-grown mustaches. While the three musketeers didn’t split, we each met different people. Freshman year was like a neverending ferris wheel – new friends constantly coming in, and old friends constantly going out. It was purely a network of intertwining cliques and overlapping friendships that became this massive mob of teenagers without a care in the world that made its way around San Francisco, recklessly doing whatever it pleased. Eventually, we three grew tired of the constant need to impress these strangers whom we hardly knew. My naiveté had led me to a group of people that I knew were not right for me. Sophomore year rolled by and high school was no longer something new— it was just a drag. One friend even battled a mild form of depression, which in turn, affected us all. Like the long lines waiting for the roller coasters, we found that the only way to overcome boredom and melancholy was to push through to the end. That summer, two of us recuperated by travelling in

Europe, trying to rejuvenate our overstressed psyches. Junior year proved to be the uphill climb to the top of the roller coaster; as every moment went by, my anxiety increased. Pressures of college and my future were sitting on my shoulders, but junior year was the first time I really engaged with my courses at Lowell. As a result, I became close to my group of friends at school again. They were helped me with school while constantly making me laugh; they were the excitement in my monotonous and work-heavy schedule. But as my two musketeers also found new friendships, we slowly drifted apart. Finally came the giant drop. Senioritis hit us a bit early, even through the painstaking and stressful college application process. As a result, our uncoordinated schedules, lack of free time and new friendships pushed us further apart. Even as second semester arrived and the stress died down, I felt our once- inseparable friendship continue to slowly deteriorate as our differences intensified. Was this the way things would be from now on? Were we just different people from the little sixth graders that met each other on the lunch yard? Had high school changed us completely?

The answer is yes. High school compelled us to confront peer pressure, but we pushed past it. It forced stress about our futures upon us, but we got into college. It made us question our friendship, but we have talked through our issues. Despite these obstacles, we have succeeded in overcoming the relentless legend they call high school, and we did it together. In a few months we will be all be in different parts of the country, so I can’t help but feel nostalgic about the last four years. All the arguments and stress, however, don’t compare to the countless inside jokes, vacations, advice, and experiences we’ve shared together. All these events accumulated to create my high school experience; I was just lucky enough to experience it all with my two best friends.

ILLUSTRATION COURTESY OF KT KELLY

Trekkie a part of an endeavor By Eva Morgenstein

Y DIE-HARD Star Trek passion is well known to those who have ever had a conversation with me or read one of my previous columns in The Lowell. To you, it may seem like any other insane fan-girl obsession (of which I admit I have too many). But Star Trek is important to me for a reason known only to a select few. As Lowell students, at the bare minimum we know that we have nowhere near enough funding for education, and that the U.S. economy is in general disrepair. We know, after taking AP Environmental Science, that our natural resources look even grimmer, and we know from a current events presentation in any social studies class that political world affairs have turned even more tense and destructive. In the beginning, Star Trek soothed my anxiety about these issues and reassured me that there was a future for us (it takes place beginning in the 23rd century). Starfleet is a peacekeeping space armada that travels the universe in its vast fleet of ships, exploring new worlds and ensuring the civil rights of humanoids on every planet. Every series of Star Trek revolves around a particular starship and its crew, with a particular mission or journey to execute. The morals of Starfleet promote the greater good around the galaxy, and provide aid and guidance in a manner befitting democracy. Although all of the characters differ, their unifying goal is to promote political and resource related sustainability in order to further advance the different

cultures of the galaxy. Around my junior year, I forcefully yanked myself out from the comforting protection that Star Trek’s escapist utopian world had afforded me. The constant perseverance toward a better existence that my beloved Star Trek characters dedicate their lives to has taught me that it is my duty as well. I had no large part in creating this mess, apart from whatever byproducts my existence produces and supporting unsavory businesses with my dollars. But I feel ethically obliged to help solve it. I realize that as students from one of the top high schools in the United States, we will accomplish many different things in a multitude of fields. Just like cadets at Starfleet Academy, we have been trained, and are continuing our training next year, to fulfill a larger purpose. Whatever this involves for us is irrelevant. But it is relevant that between two and four million people are trafficked each year, global oil supply will be depleted in 40 years, and that in this country of bountiful harvest, children still go hungry. Star Trek reminds me every day to urge myself to start drawing attention to these problems. Our teachers and families have put time and effort into our education. We are vessels loaded with the knowledge and ability. I urge us all to consider what we believe we were meant to do. I urge each one of us to utilize every experience and every moment of learning so that we can amount to a full potential as a generation and a people and “boldly go where no person has gone before.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF ADRIANA MILLAR

The author gives the world a smooch while awaiting word from the USS Enterprise (but the Voyager would be okay too).

May 3, 2013

ALL ILLUSTRATIONS COURTESY OF KT KELLY

18 PROFILES

Samudra Randazzo By Nick Weisenburger

MAGINE ROLLING OUT OF bed in the morning and pulling on your overalls on your way to pick fresh warm eggs from the chicken coop that sits outside your bedroom window. However then you hear the 67 bus whizz past your Bernal Heights paradise, followed by the waking up of the downtown San Francisco

hustle and bustle. Welcome to the life of sophomore Samudra Randazzo, who along with her family owns and raises five chickens. Along with “normal” household pets like her dog Lady, Randazzo helps her family handle their hens while juggling piles of homework and school clubs. “I do my fair share of taking care of my chickies,” Randazzo

Lowell High School

said. “I always try and squeeze in some tender love and care. Currently, they are the stars of my photography project, so in a way they are doing work for me.” In the morning, Randazzo lets the “gals” out of their coop to spend the day perusing the backyard and herds them back in again at night. “It’s important for them out of the coop during the day because of the close quarters,” Randazzo said. “It’s a lot of work taking care of chickens, but when the tasks are distributed throughout the week it’s a lot easier to handle.” However, the chickens already do a lot of the clean up by cleaning themselves. “Chickens do this motion where they lay down on the ground, shake themselves back and forth, then fluff up their

feathers,” Randazzo said. “The chickens do this because it helps clean out bugs. I know it sounds redundant, but getting the dirt in between their feathers and fluffing up shakes the bugs out.” Unlike most pets, chickens give back more than just love. “On average, my chickens lay an egg per day and we don’t even have to refrigerate them!” Randazzo said. The U.S. regulations require that eggs are washed before they are sold, which removes all organic matter and any harmful bacteria, but also strips the egg’s shell of its protective coating, according to the health and food blog Thekitchn. com (www. thekitchn. com). A l though Randazzo doesn’t get up in the morning to a small country house, her feathery friends cluck a greeting no matter where they live.

Brandon Chiu By Nicholas Weisenburger

ANY associate the infamous Big Foot with a towering monster wreaking havoc on hikers and friendly campers alike. However, for freshman Brandon Chiu, a different image comes to mind. Big Foot was Brandon Chiu’s pet chicken. “I had my chicken for about six years, but she died of old age,” Chiu said. “She was [my family’s] first chicken.” Chiu was only in the fourth grade when he acquired his feathery friend. “My family and I got her at the Oakland

Chinatown,” Chiu said. Chiu and his family weren’t the only ones interested in what Big Foot had to offer. “For the first couple of weeks, our new chicken attracted two haw ks and about five cats,” Chiu said. Ac c o r d ing to Chiu, chickens are ideal pets b e c aus e of their independence. “I t h i n k a chicken is easy to take care of,” Chiu said. “You don’t need that much space for one’s cage, and we just let her roam around and

eat insects or leaves from the plants. We fed her worms, lettuce, and grains of rice.” After a long day of clucking in the backyard, Big Foot was ready for bed. “Every night, she went back in her cage and we could put her back in the garage where she slept,” Chiu said. Living such a peaceful life, Big Foot had to show her love and she did in the form of eggs “But as she grew older, the amount of eggs she laid decreased,” Chiu said. “And the eggs tasted pretty good.”

PHOTOS COURTESY OF JASPER SCHERER AND SAMUDRA RANDAZZO

May 3, 2013

The Lowell

PROFILES

Five Lowell students convert their backyards into barns to raise the city’s feathery friends

Pasha Stone By Pasha Stone

OR MOST OF MY life I missed out on the joy of owning pets. Ever since I was little I was allergic to cats and dogs, my parents forbade any rodents or snakes, and I had little interest in pets you couldn’t interact with such as parrots or fish. So eventually, when I was 12, my dad decided the perfect pet for my family was chickens. The notion of owning chickens in San Francisco

By Elena Bernick

times I have to run around the backyard at night chasing them to put them back into the coop.” To guests, these unusual pets provide quality entertainment. “A lot of people find it very weird, but they also find it really cool,” Scherer said. “People want to feed them. They’ll eat out of your hand. One will even fly on your shoulder.” There are certain aspects of owning a chicken that differ from owning a more typical pet. When Scherer acquired the new chickens, they were mere chicks. As they grew, it became clear that one was the odd-one-out. “We had to get rid of one of them because it was a rooster,” Scherer said. “He was getting too aggressive. That’s how the chick came about.” The chickens provide more than just amusement and are treated like members of the family. Scherer says his family would not dream of eating their clucking companions, but they do enjoy the fresh eggs.

Jasper Scherer

By Elena Bernick

OUR CHICKENS, two cats, a rabbit and countless fish — you might wonder if you’re in a zoo, or the house of sophomore Sabina Wildman. Named Loretta, Sitara, White Wing and Hermione, these feathered creatures have been residing in Wildman’s nest for years. “We went to the pet store where we get our rabbit food, and there was this area with chicks in cages,” Wildman said. “We liked holding them, and one day, I guess my parents were in a good mood, and they let us bring the chickens home.” Her family is a lover of all animals, as is evident from the plethora of pets running around their residence. “Pets are always really nice,” Wildman said. “Holding a chicken will make you feel kind of Zen.” Although her family is accepting of all of Earth’s creatures, others are not as welcoming. “When people come over, they’re

is turned into a treat for the hens. The chickens are much loved by our neighbors as they enjoy looking into our yard and watching the hens scavenge for food or peck at the dirt in search of bugs. My favorite part about owning chickens is sharing them with my friends who are always amazed by the backyard poultry and want to feed the chickens whenever they come over. The fresh eggs have an unbeatable taste and they’re fun to give to friends and family to enjoy, especially back when I had a chicken that laid green eggs, which were sure to astonish people with her seemingly painted lime shade.

sometimes afraid to hold them,” Wildman said. “Other people are like ‘oh, they’re going to get me dirty!’” Chickens cannot fly, but that does not stop Wildman’s hens from trying to escape. “They like to go into my neighbor’s yard,” Wildman said. “ T h e y j u mp onto our recycling bin area to get up over. A couple times they’ve been stuck there.” According to Wildman, chickens’ eyes do not adjust well to the dark, causing them to be unable to move once the sun goes down. “Hermione likes to go on our railing on our porch,” Wildman said. “She’ll just stay there and sleep, so we have to go and pick her up because she won’t be able to move.”

Sabina Wildman

HY DID THE chicken cross the road? Well this time, it was to get to Jasper Scherer’s house. The humble abode of senior Jasper Scherer is home to four chickens and one chick, who reside in coops in the backyard. The Scherer family acquired four of their chickens on Independence Day, 2012. The chick was born early 2013. The idea to transform their house into a home for hens was a result of an accidental encounter. Scherer and his family found a chicken strolling around the yard one morning, and even after the family put up “found” posters, the fowl was never claimed. “It just never left,” Scherer said. “We got new chickens to keep it company.” With feathers ranging from black and grey to orange, these bawking beasts flutter freely around Scherer’s garden. “During the day we let them out and they just kind of run around,” Scherer said. “Some-

may sound absurd and impractical, but my backyard was perfectly set up for it. We had a coop built that was magnificent, with salvaged redwood and parts from a v i nt a g e headboard. Every time I e nt e r e d my garden, I felt as if I had traveled to a farm far from the city. Owning chickens is also very environmentally friendly, as all of my family’s food waste

The Lowell

May 3, 2013

OPINION

Potentially charging fees for overweight airplane fliers is an issue that should not be taken lightly Airplanes charge more for luggage, so why not for extra pounds, student argues

By Dylan Anderson

ONG AIR TRAVEL flights are both boring and uncomfortable. This truism felt especially apparent to me recently while on a six hour cross-country flight which featured no in-flight entertainment whatsoever. No awful movie to sleep through, no half-funny NBC rerun episode, not even the option to tune into channel 9 on the armrest radio to listen into the cockpit banter. Had the airline removed the eight-inch televisions and radio systems in an attempt to dissatisfy their customers? Wouldn’t this move discourage customers and damage the airline financially? In fact, the move actually was financially motivated with the intent to save money. The operation of this flight had become significantly cheaper for the airline due to the fuel saved from reducing its weight by removing the wiring for the entertainment systems. Like all other forms of gasoline, jet fuel is rather expensive. Partially because of this, weight is the primary concern of engineers when designing aircraft, which use as much as one gallon of fuel each second. Furthermore, the cost of jet fuel becomes exponential: heavier planes must use more fuel to propel more weight, yet this additional fuel becomes less efficient because the additional weight of the additional fuel adds to the overall weight of the flight. I understood that the airline had removed the entertainment systems to save money by saving fuel, but it seemed as if the airline had ignored a critical weight contributor — the obese man to my right whose expansive midsection consumed my entire armrest and intruded into a sizeable portion of my already very limited personal space. Passengers are typically allowed to board with two carry-on items in addition to their body. The baggage policies of any airline would not permit me to carry on a third bag and leave it in the seat of a paying customer, yet the stranger to my right was more than welcome to park some of his “extra baggage” in my seat at no extra cost. Had I wanted to travel with a third bag, I could have checked it for a substantial fee. US Airways (www.usairways.com) charges customers $25 for their first checked bag on domestic flights, but also charges an additional $175 for bags weighing over 70 pounds. Assuming that coach tickets on this flight cost $350, I could check a 72-pound bag and contribute roughly 215 pounds to the total weight of the flight for $550, while the gentleman in my row would pay only $350 for his contribution of 300 pounds. Although no airline would publicly admit it, this policy suggests that it would be financially smarter to swallow all of my luggage before heading to the airport. The current airfare policies discriminate against medium-weight people by forcing them to pay as much or more than people who use more space and weight than they do. Some airlines have made changes to account for the weight of their customers. Recently, Samoa Air began weighing customers at the airport and charging progressive fares based on the weight of their passengers. Although

“Yes, if they take up two seats, as long as they are not discriminated against because of their weight.”- freshman Mark Belocura.

Samoa Air is a small regional airline, this is a step in the right direction. CNN (www. cnn.com) reported that in 2009, All Nippon Airways, a large international carrier, began requesting that passengers reduce their weight before boarding the plane — by using the restroom — in order to limit carbon emissions by burning less fuel. While these changes inspire some hope, the problem is far from its resolution. Weight is a sensitive subject, especially for some individuals who have little or no control over their weight. These suggested policies should not apply to individuals, including children under the age of 12, and passengers with exemptions filed by doctors that attribute their weight to noncurable conditions. A weight-based fare is imperfect, however, because it discriminates on the basis of sex and height, two characteristics that we have no control over, just like the color of our skin. Airfare should be progressive based on Body Mass Index, a metric that evaluates the shape of a person by dividing their mass by their height. The progressive fares should increase for passengers with a BMI in the overweight or obese range of the spectrum. Furthermore, passengers who occupy more space than is provided by a single seat should be required to purchase a ticket in the first class section, where seats are significantly larger, or purchase two seats next to each other. YouGov Omnibus (www. yougov.com) conducted a public opinion survey in April 2013 which found that 63 percent of Americans would support the idea of heavy passengers buying two adjacent seats, and a minority of Americans (42 percent) would feel humiliated if asked to be weighed at an airport. Obviously this policy would be far from perfect, but it would be a major advancement in terms of health and fairness. Passengers who occupy more space than is provided by a single seat should be required to purchase a ticket in the first class section, where seats are significantly larger, or purchase two seats next to each other.

Reporter claims that prices based on weight are discriminatory and ridiculous

By Elazar Chertow

ELIEVE ME, I’ll be the first one to complain about anything having to do with airports and airplanes. Standing behind divas with six Louis Vuitton bags just to check-in, spending $15 on a burrito, getting a full-body pat down from a TSA officer named Dennis. Bottom line, it’s all bad. The last time I was on a flight, I was heading to New York, and sandwiched between two hefty (and that’s being generous) adult guys. Right as we were flying over Kansas, I needed to use the bathroom, and two awkward conversations and five minutes later I was contorting my body to get to the aisle. This only affirmed my hatred of airplanes, or rather airplanes’ hatred of me. Despite my very negative experiences not only with airplanes, but also with their overweight passengers, I cannot bring myself to think that it is fair to charge passengers a weight tax or pay for an extra seat. Just because they may have a little extra meat does not mean that they need to pay a lot more dough. According to a 2010 American Journal of Medicine article (www. urology.ucsd.edu), more than one in three Americans is obese. This, to be frank, is an embarrasing statistic, and one that is hard to recognize on the streets of San Francisco. However, the root causes of obesity that affect millions of Americans are often overlooked in the arguments of those in favor of charging overweight passengers more. Not

every overweight person on an airplane has been gorging themselves on McDonalds, and it is unfair to assume that is the case. Many of those overweight have been born with diseases and chemical imbalances that may lead them to gain excessive weight. Punishing someone under these circumstances is not only unfair and discriminatory, but also immoral. If an extra tax were added to passengers weighing over 250 lbs, or even if they were forced to pay for two seats, it would cause numerous problems. First, a distinction would have to be made between those passengers who are overweight by natural causes or because of a poor diet. A certificate from a physician would be needed to excuse the extra payment because someone was born with hypothyroidism or another syndrome that causes them to gain weight, similar to how a disabled parking permit is issued. This form could easily be abused. A tax or a policy where passengers have to pay based on weight is not a solution. It is discriminatory against a group of individuals, who, in some cases, cannot control the way they are. Even normal-sized and skinny passengers have trouble fitting into 747s where the seats feel more like sardine cans than airplane recliners. Cliches aside, no one benefits from price increases — not the passengers who are overcharged, and not the airlines who lose money when customers flock to companies with non-discriminatory policies. It is time airlines cared more about the content of their cabins than the lipid content of their passengers.

ILLUSTRATION BY HOI LEUNG

“They should have a section just for people that need wider seats.” - administrative assistant Tiffany Adams

“If you’re overweight and taking up two spaces, then you should be charged for two seats.” - senior Eli Newbrun-Mintz.

“People are not objects like baggage, they are humans.” - sophomore Rebecca Helm

May 3 , 2013

The Lowell

OPINION

OPINIONS X-Country to cut runners because of PE exemption

By Samantha Wilcox

OWELL CROSS COUNTRY boasts a 33-year reign over the Academic Athletic Association’s championship title, as well as membership of more than seventy runners. However, cross country coaches are proposing cuts to their roster of runners in response to upcoming Physical Education exemptions and a dauntingly large roster that is difficult to manage. As of school year 2013-2014, underclassmen will be exempt from PE for the duration of their sport’s season if they are on a sports team. According to cross country head coach Michael Prutz, the coaches were considering downsizing their team before the exemptions were announced, but the large number of PE exemptions that the team would provide to runners is the major reason for the upcoming cuts. “It would be too easy for athletes to not show up to practices, what with such a large team, and still get a PE exemption,” Prutz said. “We want dedicated runners on our team.” Coaches plan on making cuts at the beginning of the season, although they don’t have a specific plan for how cuts will be determined yet. Cutting runners from the team will greatly discourage and demoralize interested students. At the beginning of the season, a runner’s time is not an accurate portrayal of their potential. Cross country offers a network of support and encouragement, and students will quickly improve once they get their feet on the ground and some basic training under their belt. One of the main reasons that many students join the cross country team is because they don’t have to worry about cuts. They can be a part of a community where they can improve their health and their performance while being surrounded by people who can push them to improve. Being on a sports team is one of the most beneficial aspects of high school. According to CIFSF (www.cifsf.org), student athletes in San Francisco consistently have higher grade point averages than their non-athlete counterparts. On a team, students learn time management, as well as the discipline that is needed to succeed in Lowell’s rigorous academic environment. Also, daily physical activity greatly reduces stress in adolescents, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (www.adaa.org). When students are cut from a team such as cross-country that has had a long-standing “no cuts” policy, then they lose out on the many benefits that participating in a sport can offer. Cutting runners from cross country will be detrimental to students who might not otherwise get the chance to be on a sports team. They could lose the health and emotional benefits that the team would provide them, which could cause their academic performance to suffer. A cut system based on running times at the beginning of the season is a deeply flawed approach that would cause the cross country team to lose potential talent and possibly even future championship titles. If the issue is a fear of runners lacking dedication to the team, then coaches should consider beefing up their daily check-in system to ensure runners don’t skip practices. Running is one of the most accessible and popular sports in the world, and it should be treated that way by allowing anyone who is interested to participate.

Editors-in-Chief Deidre Foley • Henry Hammel Amy Char • Cooper Logan News Amy Char, Deidre Foley, Cooper Logan

Sports Henry Hammel, Ian James Features Jenna Fiorello, Kai MatsumotoHines, Eva Morgenstein

KT Kelly, Adriana Millar Opinion Elazar Chertow, Spencer Thirtyacre Reporters Dylan Anderson, Natalia Arguello Inglis, Elena Bernick, Antonio Carmona, Madelyn Chen, Emily Fong, Campbell Gee, Luke Haubenstock, Joseph Kim, Gisela Kottmeier, Rayming Liang, Whitney C. Lim, Ashley Louie, Amber Ly, Patricia Nguy, Brian Nguyen, Andrew Pearce, Tyler Perkins, Noreen Shaikh, Sam

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Published every four weeks by the journalism classes of Lowell High School, Room S108, 1101 Eucalyptus Drive, San Francisco, CA 94132 Phone: (415) 759-2730 Internet: thelowellads@yahoo.com; http://www.thelowell.org. All contents copyright Lowell High School journalism classes. All rights reserved. The Lowell and The Lowell on the Web strive to inform the public and to use their opinion sections as open forums for debate. All unsigned editorials are the opinions of the staff. The Lowell welcomes comments on school-related issues from students, faculty and community members. Send letters to lowellopinion@gmail.com. Letters must be signed. Names will be withheld upon request. We reserve the right to edit letters before publication. 2012 NSPA Print Pacemaker 2011 NSPA All-American 2011 NSPA Online Pacemaker 2009 NSPA First Class Honors

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The LOL THE LOL

CAMILA KACIMI

LETTER TO THE EDITOR Dear Editor, People have asked why I am the only World Language Instructor who does not participate in Kermesse. The yearly income has declined. When I was participating, every year the French Club and my classes made and sold crepes. we almost always made between $2,000 and $2,300. I also did four years of “Macho Nachos” with my AP Spanish class. This brought in close to $500 each time. People are wondering why won’t I work to raise the almost $3,000 as in the past for our department. One contribution to my relinquishment of this is due to a massive disharmony for many years in our department. There are people who won’t speak or even look at their colleagues. To me, that is a sad collegiality factor.

However, first and foremost, I found out about how the Kermesse actually began. A group of Christians in Belgium vehemently burned a group of Chasidic Jews for commenting on their practice. As a Christian, I thought it was wrong to retaliate. Or maybe my Bible is different and I’m just unaware. Especially since I am very sympathetic to Jewish people growing up in New York City. Almost all of my friends were Jewish. So we denounced Hitler, but it was OK for Christians. Several years back, I brought this up at a World Language Department meeting. I received no support. I am not saying that the members of the department are anti-Semitic, but I think that the festival should be changed to the “World Cultural Festival.” ~ John Raya, French teacher

You can now submit your letters to the editor by email to thelowellopinion@gmail.com You can also deliver it in person in the envelope outside of S107.

Reporter upset by smoking around campus By Luming Yuan

Most high school students cannot legally purchase smoking material. Under the law, it is illegal for an NLY TEENAGERS HAVE the enviable ability to pull an all-nighter, make it on time for the individual under the age of 18 to buy products like history exam the next morning and still be cigarettes or marijuana. According to About.com bursting with energy when it is time for soccer practice. (usgovinfo.about.com), 65 percent of students had Well, maybe not all teenagers, but when compared to friends or relatives make cigarette purchases for them. A adults, teens have several health advantages such as report published in the American Journal of Preventive higher metabolism and quicker reflexes. This is why teens Medicine (Vol. 27, No. 4: 267-276) revealed that most of should not destroy their natural abilities by inhaling toxic the students who did their own illegal purchases were not chemicals on a daily basis. Additionally, and as a key step asked to provide any proof of age. School nurse Maryann Rainey sees first-hand what to preventing smoking by youth, it is inappropriate for happens when a high schooler becomes addicted. them to do so on or near school campuses. Lowell undeniably has a great academic reputation, When anyone from Lowell is caught smoking tobacco, but underage smoking is still a problem here. “I was they are cited to Rainey and must attend private lessons walking back to school when I saw someone with a with her. “I haven’t been getting citations this year, but cigarette,” freshman Zora Rosenberg said. “I don’t know last year I had a student who, at first, didn’t care to quit why I was surprised. I probably figured that even though smoking,” Rainey said. “However, after the first meeting high school students smoked, a Lowell student wouldn’t. in which I showed the lungs damaged by smoking, the student decided to quit. We kept meeting once a week It was bit of a reality check.” and the student soon became a Health teacher Lisa Cole strongly non-smoker. Six months later the opp os es underage smok ing . student doesn’t smoke and doesn’t “Between lung cancer, bronchitis Lowell has a great miss it at all!” and other life-ending diseases, Many students are misinformed only negative things can come from reputation, but un- about the difference between smoking,” Cole said. The top three preventable causes derage smoking is tobacco products and marijuana. In reality, the two do not share of death are obesity, high blood still a problem here.” the same results. “Tobacco is an pressure and smoking. Among addiction,” Rainey said. “It has these three, smoking is the cause nicotine which makes the smoker with the most drastic consequences. Mothers’ addictive habits cause 467,000 premature births both calm and alert. After some time, the smoker can’t each year in the United States alone, according to Harvard feel calm or alert without nicotine.Marijuana causes School of Public Health News (www.hsphd.harvard.edu). the lack of motivation which often results in a careless Smoking is also responsible for the deaths of one in five attitude where the smoker doesn’t feel the need to come adults in our country. Another 42,000 die from the effects to school anymore.” It is clear that the effects of smoking are visible to the of second-hand smoke. Though it is impossible to control a high school naked eye. Smoking causes the yellowing of teeth, hair student’s decisions, it is plausible to prevent the use of loss and permanent wrinkles. Cigarettes contain carbon monoxide which reduces tobacco and marijuana on school campuses. The San Francisco Unified School District Student and Family oxygen, and tar which is proven to cause cancer and Handbook clearly states “smoking or the possession of nicotine which increases cholesterol level, according to any tobacco products is not permitted at any time by Net Doctor (www.netdoctor.co.uk). What should be done to prevent further underage students on school campus or while attending school smoking? A possible solution is to present teens with activities” (pg 59). The city of San Francisco regulates smokers in public shocking facts, such as the diseases that smoking places in its Health Code Article 19C, which states can cause or the average lifespan of a smoker. This the policies of “Regulating Smoking in Public Places information would persuade teens to change their ways. and in Health, Educational, and Child Care Facilities.” Increased security measures on high school campuses It proclaims “It is, therefore, intent of the Board of would also be of benefit. Every smoker should keep Supervisors, in enacting this Article, to protect the actress Brooke Shields’ ironic words in mind: “Smoking nonsmoker from environmental tobacco smoke and to kills. If you’re killed, you’ve lost a very important part eliminate smoking as much as possible in public places.” of your life.”

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May 3, 2013

The Lowell

CoLuMns

Meaning to life found in AP English Lang exam

By Jenna Fiorello

IFE IS UNPREDICTABLE. For some, such uncertainty is terrifying. Four years ago, when I was an incoming freshman, I had no idea what I was getting into when I accepted my admission to Lowell. I was excited for high school, yes, but, like all freshmen, I was scared. And clueless. I only knew two things on my foggy first day of school: 1) the brand new, multi-pocket Jansport backpack on my shoulders was no longer cool, despite its practicality, and 2) there were 718 school days left until graduation. In my mind, if I made it to this day, alive, at least I did one thing right. Now, when I was trying to find inspiration for this senior column, I used “The Moment” method: I looked back to my high school career and tried to pinpoint a moment that summed everything up nicely. First I thought about the good times, such as the peace rally Lowell held in retaliation to Westboro Baptist Church, or the pride I felt as I watched my peers receive recognition for their work at the 2011 National Journalism Convention in Anaheim. Then I skimmed through the all-too-often times of struggle, such as the last minute, lunchtime English essays or the desperate, 10-minute power naps in the journ room. Yet what stood out to me the most, actually, was a moment I experienced last year during the AP English exam. I know, I know, it’s very Lowell of me, but don’t get me wrong — I don’t remember

this specific moment out of joy, but rather out of trauma. Just imagine: after two and a half hours of reading and writing, I turned to the prompt of my last essay with my fingers sore and my energy low, praying to some God that the free response question of the 2012 AP Language and Composition was easy and straightforward. Instead, the prompt greeted me with two obscure quotes that some philosophers wrote centuries ago, and I only understood about half of what the words meant. Worse yet, I was supposed to connect them to the concept of “certainty versus doubt” in life, which only made things more complicated. Anyway, since I was running out of time, I took my chances and com-

pletely bullshitted the essay. ’Till this day I’m still unsure what exactly my argument was. My hook — my first line — went something like this: “As I sit here in this gym, completing this AP exam, anything could happen. An earthquake could strike at any moment. And that is why these quotes connect to the concept of uncertainty in life.” Just when I thought that my barely-finished essay ruined my chances of passing the AP exam, I was mistaken. I literally laughed out loud when the results came in the mail months later and I found out that I had actually scored a 4 on the exam. I was dumbfounded, but also proud of my creative effort. The only reason why I’m telling you this, however — besides for bragging purposes — is because I want you to remember that life is full

of uncertainty. When I first came to Lowell, I was certain it was the right place for me. To be completely honest, however, by the end of sophomore year, I was seriously considering transferring out. I thought Lowell was too hard and that I would be happy somewhere else. I wanted to give up. But my Dad asked me a question that changed my mind: “Who knows if you’ll be happy at Galileo, or Balboa High School?” To quote a song by Macklemore — a Seattle-based rapper I used to listen to before he was cool — “I can’t control life, but I can control how I react to it.” And I agree. You have the power to change your actions, simply by changing your attitude. So I chose to stay, and I chose to correct and learn from my mistakes. And that, in the end, has helped me feel like a better person. So remember: the only person who can make you happy is yourself. After we leave this high school, we’ll be going our separate ways and onto the paths we think are right for us — whether it’s enrolling into that one college you’ve had a sweater of for the past year or if you’re planning to stay local before moving on. Again, who knows what will happen? You can’t predict the future, but you can turn to the facts for reassurance, which include: 1) The fact that you are smart, 2) You are unique, 3) You are loved, 4) You are needed, and, most importantly, 5) You are about to graduate Lowell High School and enjoy the rest of your life, wherever that life may take you.

Senior explains how she found Prince Charming

By Ashley Louie

municated through Facebook. When she found out that I had an “interest” in Reed, she, a stranger to Reed, “friend requested” him. She served as the middlewoman between Reed and me, talking to each of us about each other. On Feb. 2, 2009, after months of one-sided conversations with us, my cousin sent a group message to Reed and me along the vague lines of “You guys both like each other.” Ecstatic, 13-year-old Reed immediately charged several dollars to my pay-as-you-go phone by texting me lovey-dovey texts asking me out to dinner the next day. Unfamiliar with the boyfriend/girlfriend situation, it took me weeks to move out of my comfort zone and take him up on his offers. We had our first date at Century Theaters in Westfield, where we watched He’s Just Not that into You...

I constantly updated my AIM statuses with song titles that described my feelings toward the egg.

with my female best friend. I cannot imagine how awkward she felt that day. Eventually, we surpassed the phase of needing a third wheel on dates, and Reed and I have been going strong for four amazing years — years filled with memories from visiting each other at school when I still went to Galileo Academy, memories from middle school dances with DJ Hightop, mano-a-mano basketball sessions in his backyard, walks around the same spot in Golden Gate Park on our anniversary, baking cupcakes for each others’ birthdays, dinners with both of our families combined and many more. And Reed and I will continue living happily ever after.

OUR TO C

PHO TESY MES

N JA

OF IA

AYBE YOU HAVE SEEN me and my egg (white on the outside, Asian on the inside) of a hubby walking around the hallway. Since I will graduate in a few weeks and will soon no longer regularly walk through the crowded halls of my alma mater, I thought I should share my not-soTaylor Swift story about how Reed Hanan Whiteside Haubenstock and I came to be, well, a couple. Once upon a time, there was a land filled with Lands End rolling backpacks, more stress than there is at Lowell and an abundance of Asian students who could not get 4.0s because they spent too much time studying and not enough time exercising to earn themselves a B in Physical Education — Alice Fong Yu Alternative School. Here, each graduating class consisted of approximately 60 students, students who (for the most part) had been at the school from kindergarten until the eighth grade and who graduated with a fluency in Chairman Mao’s and Uncle Sam’s native language. With merely 540 students in the entire school, classes were small, and there was a high chance that you might end up sitting next to a person for more than one class. And that is exactly what happened to Reed and me. In the eighth grade, we had six classes in a school day, and I sat next to him in four of those classes. (To be honest, up until the eighth grade I had only known him as the mile time record-setting runner with a big head, braces and transition lenses.) Back before the Facebook bonanza and when the AOL Instant Messaging was still a fad, he and I used to message each other about all of the group busywork we were assigned. Somewhere among the plethora of group projects, one of which involved us creating a U.S. history parody of Fergie’s hit song “Glamorous” and a spin wheel that looked more like a lopsided Frisbee, we began having fewer homework-related conversations and more normal ones instead. Reed and I developed a habit of IM-ing each other every night whether we had a group project or not. Being the obnoxious middle school student I was, I constantly updated my AIM statuses with song titles that described my feelings towards the Egg. One of those song titles included “Lucky” by Colbie Caillat and Jason Mraz, a song both he and I are very familiar with up to this day. I wanted to be more than the girl that sat next to him in all of his classes, but without being blunt and telling him in person — so I resorted to the contemporary up-andcoming social networking site — Facebook. In the eighth grade, I confided in my ninth grade Canadian cousin; we talked about our “crushes,” the coolest movie in theaters, new fads that included pink feathery slap bracelets and choker necklaces. Because she lived thousands of miles away, we com-

R A V E

R E V O L U T I O N The Lowell Backpage

Leave your fake ID at home — today teens can be found dancing to dubstep or minimal house, sounds that aren’t typically heard at your average 21-and-up nightclub. By Elena Bernick

there uses the map to find the rave. This prevents police OU WALK INTO a dark hallway and feel the from discovering where these parties, which frequently music before you hear it. You enter the dance include illegal substances, take place. floor and catch flashes of neon What Draws People In pink spandex, glimpses of skin gleamFor some, it is the pull of pulsing ing with sweat and lasers passing We listen to elec- beats that draws them in to the atthrough artificial smoke. The music mosphere. EDM, or electronic dance pounds into your ear faster than your tronic dance mumusic, has had a boom in popularity heart can pound against your chest. Welcome to a rave. sic, we party hard in recent years. Between 2012 and 2013, EDM icon Skrillex won six Modern rave culture began in and we have a good Grammys, an impressive feat for an the UK in the 1980s, and soon EDM artist. DJs like Tiesto, Avicii found its way to our shores in the time.” and Kaskade have sold out some of 90s. The music, too, was imported from the other side of the Atlantic. ANONYMOUS the biggest arenas in the country. For ravers, the atmosphere they enter student Prominent electronic group Swedish House Mafia sold out Madison is a place removed from the outside Square Garden in a mere nine minworld. For one, often times it is an upbeat and electrifying experience, and one that bonds utes in 2011, according to Billboard (www.billboard.com). For others, a rave is a social event. Whether one goes groups together. “We listen to electronic dance music, we party hard, and we have a good time,” a student who alone or with a group, meeting people is a given. “People are a lot nicer and willing to get to know you,” senior Eva requested anonymity said. Despite the dangers presented, ravers find themselves Duboff said. “Of course there is the drug scene, but there’s united under shaking speakers and black lighting. In some also the sociable aspect, and you know you can always cases, a raver drives to a location to obtain a map, and from find someone there to talk with and become friends with.”

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S p y A R a v e r Male or female, the uniform of a raver usually consists of bright colors, little to no clothing and beaded jewelry called “kandi.” Kandi is often made by the raver and uses a plethora of colors, bead shapes and patterns. Kandi can be seen covering arms, legs and even faces, as some have adopted the trend of wearing beaded masks. A ritual is sometimes performed between two ravers surrounding their vibrant accessories. “Some people like to trade kandi,” senior Hazel Bowen said. “They say ‘peace, love, unity, respect,’ do a handshake and then trade bracelets.” “Peace, Love, Unity and Respect,” often shortened to “PLUR,” stands as a motto for ravers, and shows the sense of community the raves create. “Those are the core values of the rave scene. It means everyone treats each other with respect,” Bowen said. Girls are often spotted with “fluffies,” brightly colored and feathered leg warmers. However, a raver can sport an assortment of getups. “People wear vastly different styles,” Duboff said. “It’s the opportunity to wear something that involves showing a lot of skin, without attracting attention for showing a lot of skin.” Pacifiers, commonly seen around ravers’ necks, are more for practicality than for pizzazz. “A lot of ravers put pacifiers

May 3, 2013

PHOTO COURTESY OF TRISTAN SAVATIER

in their mouth when they get high on molly (ecstasy) to stop from grinding their teeth,” the anonymous student said.

can enhance the raver’s experience and lessen inhibitions. Nowadays, it is common to see emergency medical technicians at some raves. If no EMTs are present, other P e r i l o u s P a r t y i n g ravers will extend a helping hand, a demonstration of the A l o n g w i t h t h e s t r o b e l i g ht s a n d n e o n “PLUR” mantra. “Everybody there really understands the g l o w s t i c k s c o m e s t h e d a r k s i d e o f r a v e s . severity of what could happen if you overdose,” Duboff said. The drugs taken “So people really by most ravers can look out for you.” cause serious damR apes can age to one’s body be common at and brain. Effects these crazy parcould be worse if the ties; date rape user does not know drugs like GHB what they are takand Rohypnol ing or if they take a can be mistaken multitude of drugs. for popular party Prominent in the drugs or they can rave scene is the use be slipped into of hardcore drugs drinks. like acid, mushIt is imporrooms and most notant to keep an tably, MDMA, also eye on liquids PHOTO COURTESY OF HAZEL BOWEN called ecstasy, or Couples who rave together, stay together: Senior Hazel Bowen and a n d p e r s o n a l “molly.” These pow- her boyfriend met at a rave and will move in together in a few months. belongings, as erful hallucinogens well as peers.